JPOCUMMIT IESORN

DD 160 $32

AUTHOR Lohman, S. V.

TITLE The Geologic Story of Canyorlandi National Park.Geological Survey Bulletin 1327.Department of the Interior Washington, E.C.74112p.; Contai is numerous, colored photcgraEhls whichwill not reproduce yell

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'EDRS PRICE HF-$0.83 Plus Postage. HC' Not Available from EDRS.DESC IPTbRS *Ancient History; Earth Science; Environmental

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NTIFIERS *Canyonlands National Park

ABSTRACTIn 1984 Canyonlands was established as tte 32nd U.S.

national park, covering 400 square miles at the junction cf the Greenand Colorado Livers in Utah. This booklet gives the early history cfthe 'area, a summary pf the geologic histcr of the park, and adescription of the high mesas.benchlands, and canyons. 'There are 81illustrations including maps, charts, and pfictografhs of theCanyonlands. Additional readings and selected references areincluded. (MA)

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Li

V S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHEDUCATION A WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT FT*5 BEEN REPRO-'01./C ED E.ACTL1 AS RECEIVED FROM`THE_ FF./SON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN-ATING, IT POINTS OF ,V1EVV OW OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECE LILY FEIRESENT OF F !Cults STilkiTE OFEDUCATION POSITION OL,CY

it,

LOOKING NORTH FROM EAST WALL OF DEVILSLANE, just south of the ever Stairs. Needles areCedar Mesa Sandstone. Junction Butte and GrandView Point lie across Colorado River in background.

1 ER Fmrg

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

ROGERS C. R. MORTON, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

E. McKelvey, Director

library of Congress qatalog-cacti No. 74-600043

TO

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1974

For sale h the Superintendent of Documents, U.S, Government Printing OfficeWashington, D.C. 20402 Price S2 5 (paper covers)

Stock Number 2401-02498

6

ContentsPaw

A flew park is born 1

_Major Powell river expeditions 4Early history 9

Prehistoric people 9Late arrivals 14

Geographic setting 17

Rocks and landforms 20How to see the park 26The high mesas 27

Island In the Sky 27Dead Horse Point State Park 30North entrance 34Shafer and White Rim Trails 34Grand View Point 36Green Rivet Overlook 43Upheaval Dome 43

Hatch Point 46Needles Overlook. 47Canyonlands Overlook = 48U-3 Loop 49Anticline Overlook 50

Orange Cliffs = = 54The- benchlands 58

The Maze and Land of Standing Rocks 58The Needles district 60

Salt, Davis, and Lavender Canyons (34

The Needles and The Grabens 73Canyons of the _Green and Colorado Rivers 85

Entrenched and cutoff meanders 86Green River S7Colorado River 96

Summary of geologic history 112Additional reading 117Acknowledgments 118Selected references 118Index 123

VII

Illustrations

FRONTISPIECE Looki, orth from Devils Lane near Silver;Stairs.

Page

FiquhE 1. Map of CanyonlandS National Park = 62. Pictographs on wall of Horseshoe Canyon 103.. The All American Man 104, 'Myer Ruin 115. Newspaper Rock ---6. Cave Spring Line Camp - --- ---_---__ 157. Canyonlands National Park and vici ity 198. Shallow inland sea 219. Rock column of Canyonlands National Park -- 22

10. iSection across Canyonlands National Park 2411. Aerial view of The Neck and Shafer Trail ____12. Merrimac and Monitor Buttes13. Cane Creek anticline (viewed f\om Dead Horse

Point) 3014. Cutaway view of anticline 3115. Looking southwest from Dead horse Point _ _ _ 3216_ Shafer Trail 3517. -Natural tanks 37.

`18. Canyon Viewpoint Arch 371. Index map showing photograph localities 38-

The White Rim 4021. Monument Basin from Grand View Point 4122 Monument Basin from the air = = 4223 Stillwater Canyon and Green River 4424. Turks Head --- ------_------- --- -- 4525, Upheaval Dome - 4526. Cutaway view of syncline 4627.= Junction Butte and Grand View Point 4828. .Syncline in core of Lockhart Basin 4929. View westward from U.3 loop - = 50

Looking north from Anticline Overlook = 51Cane Creek anticline (viewed from Anticline

Overlook):32. View southeastward from The Spur_ _33. Looking north down Millard Canyon34. Elaterite seeping from White Rim sandstone

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FIGURE 35. White Rim Sandsto'ne-- --- ---36. The Doll House37. Church Rock38. North and south Six-ShoOter Peaks39_ Squaw Flat Campground40. Aerial view eastward across Salt Canyon41. Wooden Shoe42.. Paul Bunyans Potty43_ AArch -ngel44: ArcFisheye h45. 'Weddin'g Ring Arch46. Hand Holt Arch47. Cleft Arch *48. Arch49. The Needles ___ ___ _ ____

50. Chesler Park in The Needles ____ _

51. -The Needles and The-Grabens ___

52_ Trail to Druid Arch53. Upper Elephant Canyon __

54. Druid Arch ___ ____ ___

55. A simple graben ___ ___

56., Cutaway view of normal fault _57. West of Cyclone Canyon Graben58. Lower Elephant Canyon __ ____

59_ The confluence from the air ____ ___

60. The confluence from Confluence Overlook61. Cataract Canyon62. Bowknot Bend63. Inscription by Julien64. Buttes of the Cross65. Anderson .,Bottom Rincon66. Drainage changes at.Anderson Bottom Rincon67. Stillwater Canyon

The Portal69. The Ornyon70. Potash mine of Texas Gu Inc

71. Evaporation ponds72. Petrified log73., Relatively recent rincons pgIndian Creek --74. T-h.e Loop.75. Reverse fault76. Cutaway view of reverse fault77. Salt Creek Canyon78: The Slide79. Gypsum [dun'SO_ Geologic time spiral81. Late Cretaceous sea

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,.,On September 12, 1964, President Lyrfdon B. Johnson signedan act of Congress establishing Canyonlands as our thirty-second national park, the first addition to the parlAystem since1956.

The birth of Canyonlarlds National Nark was not withoutlabor. pains. In the 1930's virtually all the vast canyon countrybetween Moab, Utah, and Grand Caeon, Ariz., wAs studied fora projected Escalante National Park. But Escalanfe failed to get

.off the ground, even when a second attempt was made in the1950's. of until another proposal had bed made and legislativecompr m-ises had been worked outdid the park materialize, thistimer. inder a new nameCanyonlands, Among the manydignitaries who witnessed the signature on September 12 wasone of the men .most responsible for the park's creation, parksuperintendent Bates E. Wilson, who did the Pioneer spade workin the field. .

The newborn park covered 400 square miles' at the junction ofthe Green and Colorado Rivers in Utah. At included suchmagnificent features as Island in the Sky, The/Needles,Upheaval Dome, and the two great stone formations, AngelArch and Druid Arch. On Novetnber 16, 1971, President RichardM. Nixon signed an act of Congress enlarging the park by 125square miles in four separate parcels of land, so the area nova.totals 525 square miles, all in southeastern Utah, as shown onth'e map (fig. 1. The northern boundary was extended to includeparts of Taylor and Shafer Canyons. The addition at thesoutheast corner takes in the headwaters of Salt and LavenderCanyons and pail of Davis Canyon. The largest addition, at thesouthwest corner, includes grotesquely carved areas bearingsuch colorful names as The Maze, Land of Standing Rocks, TheFins, The Doll House ( fig. 36), and Ernies Country (named afterErnie Larson, an early-day sheepman). The fourth parcel liesabout 8 miles west of the northwest corner and encompassesmuch of Horseshoe Canyon, whose walls are adorned by strikingpictographs (fig. 2).

I- or Ike hvneht of visitors from countries Leung the metrIc system, the follineenht eon, eriiion factors mayhe helpful ,uiuttre mile 2, 90 kilometers. 1 acre 11..11115 hectare. I inch 2 f),1 rohtimeter3, I

fun 0:107. motor. 1 mile I net9 kilometers, I lr ti. Kalh Ii 1)1,1037',1 ruins meter

1 0

At this writing (1973) the park is still in itsinfancy, with mof the planned developments and improvements awaiting t_ eand money, but a good start has been made. In 1960 my fam yand I first traverse Island in the Sky to Grand View Point overa rough jeep trail; now it is reached with ease over a good gradedroad which eventually will be paved. A tempoiary trailer-housedentrance station near The Neck will be replaced by permanentheadquarters for the Island in the Sky district after water ispiped up from wells drilled near the mouth of Taylor dancyon.

In August 1965; when the Park was but 11 months old, wedrove the family car over a two-track dirt "road" from Dugout .Ranch to Cave Springtemporary headquarters for the Needles,district of the park, whose persbnnel were .housed -partly' intrailers and partly in the cave. Now a modern paved highway,built by the State (Utah Highway 11) for 19 miles. to Dugout

IanR ch and by San Juan county,. the State of Utaif, apd thetional Park Service for the next\18 miles,.extends a total of 38

miles froth U.S. Highway 163 to a new modern cam ground at'Squaw Flat (fig. 39), The entrance station and housing for parkpersonnel are now in trailer& about 2 miles west of Cave Spring,but the trailers will be replaced ,by permanent structures. Ashallow well near temporary headquarters supplies the onlywater available to the campground_ 1.5 miles to the west, but anew supply is to be developed for the campground and.perma-nent headquarters. Groceries, gasoline, trailer hookups, andcharter flights are available at Canyonlands Resort, ji.ist outsidethe eastern park boundary. The old cowboy litie camp at CaveSpring has been restored so that visitors can see this phase ofcolorful Can3;brilands history- (fig. 6), Except for 21/2 miles ofpartly graded road west from Squaw-Flat, all travel to the westand south is by four-wheel-drive vehicle or on foot. In order toreach the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, TheQrabens, and Chesler and VirWnia Parkg; drivers must con erformidable Elephalit Rill, with its 40 percent greades and ba up

.switch backs, SOB Hill and the Silver Stairs also tax th'Nskil andpatience of jeepsters. Parts of this area will event4ially bereached by graded roads, possibly by about 1977, but many hopethat much of it will be kept accessible only by jeep or foot trails,

Bates Wilson, recently retired superintendent not' only ofCanyonlands National Park but also of nearby Arches NationalPark and of Natural Bridges National Monument about SO miresto the south, is one of the few men in the park service who hasguided a national-park through all phaSeslocation, romotion,establishment, and initial development. He tired ii June 1972to a ranch along -_, Colorado River north o

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Unless credited to others, -for which grateful acknowledgmentis made, the color photographs were taken b3,, me. Most of thesewere taken on 4- by 5-inch film in a tripod-mounted presscamera using lenses or several focal lengths, but a few weetaken on a5-millimeter film. Unless credited to others, the blackand white photographs were kindly loaned from the Mbab andArches files of the National Park Service. The points from whichmost of the photographs were aken are shown in fi re-19.

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Although Major John Wesley Powell was not the firstgeologist to view -the -canyon lands, his two daring boat tripsdown the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and 1871 made ,history by -bringing light the. first descriptions of thegeography_and get5logy of 'VlThat was then the -largest remaining ,

uncharted wilderness in the United States. Many landmarlo`along the canyOns in the park Were named by Powell and-hismen during those -exploratiOns: J., S. Newberry is thought tohave been the first geologist-to view the canyon landsat leasthe seems to halNkheen the first one whose obserations wererecorded (1861), but the more comprehensive findings of Powell

11875) were the ones That .made history.

ofir, of the Gr -n and Colorado Rivers was comnwmorated in 1969 by

Aino\ the 101.iiih anniversary of Major Powell's pioneer explotatiOn

a, national centennial sponsored jointly by 'the 1.4.S, pc par t men tof the Interior, the' :Smithsonian Institution, the _NationalGeographic Society, and many other organizations. This touthedoff many rti-agatine and newspaper -.articles, several coM-,rnemor.ative programs and dedications, and ,several Niof lasting, interest. Noteworthy among the latter is U.S.ieotogical Survey Professional Paper 669 entitled "TheEol rado

River Wegion and John Wesley Powell." Of 'its four separ'ateparts, two arc-of special interest to our Canyonlands story: ry_rtA, "John Wesley Powell: Ploheer Statesrnan of Federal Science,"by Rabbitt (1969) and part C, "Geologic History of the'ColvracRiver,". by Hunt (19691. An interesting history of the NationaPark Amice by Everhart (1972) was publisheh as' part of thenational park centennial effort. The Powell &ciety, Ltd., ofDenver. Colo., was foUnded mainly 'to publish four "RiverRunners' Guides to the Canyons of the Green and ColoradoRiversj with Emphasis on Geologic Features," covering 'fivereaches 9f the two rivers from Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah, to..

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Grand Canyon, Ariz. One of these by chle (1969)Labyrinth,: Stillwater, and Cataract Canyons, an in

Canyonlands National Park. Another guidebook by Briars andMolenitar (1971) coverS the Coloradt.L,Biver from about Potash,

) Utah, to the continence with the Green, and Cataract Canyon. Itis difficult to realize that thousands of people annually now boatow the-canyons Pciwell-dared to explore without knowlediAk,of

the lingers that lay ahead,Du_ing the summer of 1968 a U.S. Geological Survey expedi-

tion led by Eugene M. Shoemaker retraced the historic 1869 anc

IS71 river voyages of Major Powell, in order, to reoccupy thecamera stations of the 1S71 voyage and rephotograph the samescenes nearly 100 years later. Remarkably enough, Yhcj±t 150camera stations were recovered, many requiring considerablesearch, 'and official photograyher Hal G. Stephensrephotographed the scenes taken Nith cumbersome wet-plateciuneras nearly 100 years earlier by E. O. Beaman (above the siteof Lees Ferry) and by J. K. I-fillers (below the site). A report con,:taininOthese remarkable sets of before and .after photographshopefully will be published everithally as a delayed. part of thePowell- centennial, A few pairs have been published by others(Ha:Ars-and Nlolenaar, 1971, p. 90-991, and two, pairs are shownherein as figures 62 and 67. As these photographs show, in mostplaces the rocks and' even the vegetation'remain virtually un-changed after nearly ic century, but a few other pairs not in-cluded herein show catastrophic changes re_ wilting from localfloods a' rockfalls.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK, showing location in Utah, Lake Powell, Dead Horse 'l.>

Point State Park, boundaries, streams, roads, trails, landforms, and principal named

features. There was insufficient room to show all named features; some not shown are

related in text by distance and direction to named ones, and some additional names are

given in figures 7, 51, and 59. Hans Flat Ranger Station near left border is in Glen

Canyon National Recreation Area. The reader is referred to road maps issued by the

State or In oil companies for the location of U.S Highway 163 (shown as 160 on old

maps) and other nearby roads and for the locations of the towns of Green River,

Crescent Junction, Moab, La Sal Junction, and Monticello. Visitors also can obtain

pamphlets at the entrance stations to the Needles and Island in the Sky districts of the

park or at the National Park Service office in Moab; these contain up-to-date maps of the

park and the latest available information on roads, trails, campsites, and picnic sites.

(Fig. 1)

EXPLANATION

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1 n

ANTICLINE

CAN WAND

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hi 51;

CON RU

+CciVt

Spring

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'NHnd 11 It

Arch

On 3'nne. 26, 1960, state and local officials met along the GreenRiver at the mouth of Split Mountain Canyo14, in DinosaurNational Monument, to:- dedicate a monument tor Major Powell,l'ifillmcmw-ating the 100th anniyersary of his first iver trip, andto. dedicate the Powell Centental Scenic- Drive/also known asth, Powell Memorial Ilitzim ay, In the a 11:till-ICC of any roadsclosely paralleling the Green and ColoradoPivers except forshort distances, this route is virtually-the only means of ap--broach to the riC-!-q, and comprises parts of several_ state andfederal highways coni1ecting Green River, Wyo., and Grand Can-yon. segmcmt of it, U.S., Highway 163, vormects Crept=cent Junction, Moab, Monticello, and )landing, alrip .Utah, andpr'oyides, the principal aeCess routes to Canyonlands and Arches

Parks and ..\:1tural Beidges Natinal Monument.The ceremonies at the Mouth of Split Mountain Canyon began

\ kit the landing of the official party flotilla'of four boats similarto. ihp ones useil 1)1)) \Tars earlier by Powell, who was imptht-,otutted by a heal-110d Mall dressed-to resemble I he one-armedmajor. After the dedication, the four- boats resumed the voyagedown the Green River for another ceremony.

On June :29 a second munument was dedicated at the head ofsolation Canyon, swot, 50 HIPS SULI4 hwest Utah,

.c the 1869 Powell expedition first ventured into the then;h1,,tom n Thw brone,lrl,ulue identifies I tesolation Can

n, named by aS a national historic landm)irk thatcomprises ;5,000 acres in an area 1 mile \Vide on eachIsidd of a0.7)-mile reach of the Green River.

There is :i.hundant evidenc0 that the canyon lands 'were in-habited by clirldwellers centuries before the explorations ofPowel1 or the earlier visits of the S1anish explorers anal the Curtrapper,.i. Projectile points and other 1trt ifacts found in the near-

t by- La ' S:.i1,1 and Alia:io Mountains indicate occupation by

aborigines frorn iliont :1,000-2,0do H.C. to about 1 A.D. i Hunt,Pt5iii.

1rcheologists have found evidence of two occupations byj prehistoric peoples in ii-iil near Canyonlands National ParktheF,.. Fremont people ;iround sou or 90u A.D. and the Pueblo or

ATiasazi people from :Wow lui;) to their departure In the httePI h century (Jennings, 1970). \Vilhin the park, the most dense-ly populated area was ilorige Salt Cienyon and Its tributaries inthe Needles district, Inn many Prehistoric thvollings ;tmlgranaries ire also found just south of t he park in Beer Hasin andRuin Park.

TheFrenffint pgople, who were mi-tinLv hunters, seemingly loftno arfilacts. but they (lid leave beautiful pictographs, or rock[Nmini ings, such as the group of ghostly hucan figures on thesandstone --\. all of I lorseshoe Canyon t fig. 2 l, in the detached unitnort.h est of the park proper (lig. I 1. The All \merican Man i fig.w. a most unusual 1 lumpty Dumpty- figure) painted in red,

..s /

cable across tlie oast fork of Salt Canyon, 15 ielieved to have1-lite, :Ind Hue . on the vall (Cl 1 cave iliout :1' miles above 1 he

been done in the Fremont style Put ems shown in the photograph,it is nest to one of three dwellings in the same civt, that werebuilt I tter by the Anasazi people.. ili1Wer Ruin I rill -II is one OrMany \eil-OreSeI'Ved VranatileS Wilt by the ArloSaZl VII!)

faimed the flood plains of creeks such as Salt iend HorseCanyons. According to Jennings (1970r7+

9.

PICTOGRAPHS ON WALL OF HORSESHOE CANYON,, believed to. have been made byFremont people about 1,000 years ago. Numbered chalkmarks 1 foot apart along bottomwere made by some previous photographer. Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards.

1971 National Geographic Society. (Fig. 2)

THE ALL AMERICAN MAN, on wall of cave in Cedar Mesa Sandstone Member of CutlerFormation along upper Salt Canyon, believed to have been painted by Fremont people.Granary on right was built by Anasazi people. Chalk outline was added by some previousphotographer. Photograph by National Park Service. (Fig. 3)

ft

TOWER RUIN, an Anasazi granary in cave in Cedar Mesa Sandstone Member along',

tributary of Horse Canyon. (Fig, 4)

is .soute" evide1we that arl all people practiced a ofion, shallots- ditches tl car water to their t crops. There hi al it esidcnce

a eii)inve in climate sometime around the late 12th century brought ahodt-mmer flaslio`flooding and induced the cliff dwellers t4L.altandor their

anvonlands hosies arid farms.

Visitors to the Needles district pass through Indian CreekState Park 12 miles west of U.S.-Highway 1(13., he principal at-- ction, which is visible at the base of the Wingate Sandstone

the right (north), is NeWstpaper Rock (fig, 5), one of thebest preserved and most intriguing petroglyphs, or rock inscrip-tions, in the canyon lands. Many of the older cliff faces of theWingate and Navajo Sandstones.. are darkened or blackened bydesert varnish, a natural pigment of iron and manganesAtrcides.The prehistoric inhabitants of the canyon country learned thateffective and enduring designs could he created simply by chisel=ing. through the thin dark layer to reseal the buff,c,: tan

.thAldstone beneath. According to Jesse D. Jennings (letter of-1t)(12, to- Utah Div."Parks and Recreation),

limeed)eno,k ill workonmsloo visible on thr rock. The last islusts rent sirroi it show; nun mounted on norses [brought in by Spanish ex-

pleAcrsj Flo-se are probably Ii s. than 21)11 years old and are prohably tint work ofI le trahrsinen: rhe others cannot be identified with tiny specific cultural group,

oarlo..!,a_ may ho innvh ;is ono thou .,aril yvar.-= old :ire probably[he tt- ork or the i ills I *

In addition to the designs by tilt 1,:retriontAr t tr.i, ind Ute.,ar-tist43(you will note :t few na and. dates_ late as 11)54.

NNSPAPER ROCK, petroglyphs cut in Wingate Sandstone cliff in Indian Creek State f>Park, Inscriptions probably span about 1,000 years and include figures by Fremont,Anasazi, and Ute people (mtainted horsernenrjnd by a few early white settlers.,(Fig.5)

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Late arrivalsThe modern history of Canyonlands is .as colorful as the

canyons themselves, and involves Indians, cattlemen, bankrobbers, cattle rustlers, and horsethieves, followed by oildrillers, uranium hinters, 'potash miners, jeepsters, boaters,and tourists. rief suinmary of their activities is taken mainlyfrom a recent account by Max'ine Newell 11970), to whose work--ou are tele further details:

Bands of and Navajo Indiams roamed the canyons and-sus until th late 1800s, but gradually they were driven out

ml succeeded Ti pioneer cattlemen, the first of whom were(,eort and Silas Green in 1874-75, followed by the aylorbrothe .s in 1880) 81. Cowboys named many of tintfeatures of the area, and the Needles country provided the scenicbackground for some of Zane Grey's western tales and for DavidLavender's 'tine Man's West." Lavender Canyon, -whoseheadwaters were recently annexed to the park, was named forhim. Visitors to the Needles distrTht pass the Dugout Ranchabout miles northwest of Newspaper Rock. The earliest ranch

were dirt houses built by the Somerville and Scorup}wet hers, who bought the huge Indian Creek spread for 1;426,000from the 'Carlisle Co. in 1915. In 1973 the ranch was operated byjpbert and Heidi Redd, whose line camp at Cave Spring servedas temporary park headquarters and later was restored to at. heal line camp rf i part of the Cave Spring Environmen-tai1Tritil.

Rubbers Iterost Canyon and Spring some 30 miles west of the-k was the hangout of a horse thief named Cap Brown in the

seventies. Eroin 1554 until abo,-nt 19(0) it was the hiding place forthe notorious Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, who robbedbanks, trains,[and mine No .-rolls and stole or traded horses ande'rattle from the ranchers. Cassidy and his gang managed to getalong with the cattlemen by either replacing or paying for mostof:the horses and cattle, but the law finally drove them out, andButch, the Sundance hid, and a woman named Etta Placemoved to-Bolivia. According to the movie version, Butch and theSundance Kid were hunted down Ad shot by Bolivian soldiersfor rohbing banks and mine pairolls, but according to Baker19711 Butch returned safely to the United Stakes and died in the

Northwest in 1943 or 19-41, and the 'Suridance"KhOsreported tohave died in Casper, Wyo.,. in 1958 at age 98. ,2!cet7--Ekker (Findley,1971, fig, 31 , present owner of Robbers Roost Ranch, which con-tains the former hangout, commented: "A lot of people are surethat Notch and his gang buried some money around pabbers

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CAVE SPRING LINE CAMP ove, line-camp exterior, showing entrance and corral;below, interior, showing shings and staple food items kept in stoc4 Served asregular cow oy line c p fo many years, than as part of temporary park headquarters;later rest- ed as part of Cave Spring Environmental Trail. A nearby cave, also in CedarMesa Sa dstone, co ins a spring. (Fig. 6)

Roost,deteetor and tea

n somebodti turns i 1with a map on. met,start li They've found a lot of rusty

tin cans oAd olft horseshoes.'The uranium hoom of the touched off- by*-Chi

Sterns fabulous Mi Vida mine south La Sal, Utah, tempo;ly skyrocketed the population of ab and gent uraniuhutuvrs into every nook and cranny of the canyon lands. Manyof The jeep trails were first made then, and landing strips andprospect holes of thafperiod arc plentiful. iVost of the prospects

re in thy Chink? Formation, particularly in the Moss BackMember at.the base, but some were in rocks older than the Ghill-ie, and some were in younger rocks, The uraniumimines in thepark are no longer operating, but production has been resumedin a few mines just north and east of the park. Information on

hese inifit?s,-ohtained from E. P. Beroni (U.S. AtomicEnergy 'omm., oral commun., Feb. 14, 11)7W is given at ap-propriate places helm\ .

'Hie number of limiters or floaters on the Colorado and GreenRivers is increasing steadily, and trips by jet boat and otherpower boats are available from Moab. Tourist travel over goodroads on Island in the Sky and fatch Point and by paved road toThe Needles also is increasing's -tadily. Travel west of the GreenHiver and main stein of the.-ColOrado River is still restrictedlargely h, a few jeep trails and to I iknig or horseback-riding.

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dogist,4 have .divided n _ed States intoeach of which has distinctive geologic andcharacteristics that set it.ipart from the ()Mors.

ae of the most intriguimg and scenic'of these is;the Colorado,ivince: referred to in this report simply as

Lu, or the Pkaeau. This province, which coverstare miles and is not all plateaus, as we shall

Colo, at the northeast to a little beyondFlagst' at the southwest and from Cedar City, Utah, atthe

'ational Park appropriateloccupies thlheart ofleat;ly to Albuquerque, N. 'Mex., at the southeast.

t he m Land: section, one of the t4iN subdivisiNs of thePlateau. As the names imply, the Canyon Lands section of thePlateau comprises a high plateau, generally ranging in altitudefrom 5,000 to 7,000 feet, which has been intricately dissected byliterally thousands of canyons.

Canyonlands National Park is drained entirely by theColorado and Green Rivers, whose confluence is an impoantand scenic central feature of the park (figs. (i() ). individualcanytins traversed or drained b these rivers are discussed inlater- Chapters.

\\ hen Major Powell reached the confluence in 1:7;69, the riverflowing in from the northeast to join the Green River was calledthe Grand River, and the Green and Grand joined there to formthe Colorado River. The Grand River was renamed ColoradoRiver by act of the Colorado State Legislature approved March21, 1921, and by act of Congress approved July 2a, 1921. But theold term still remains in names such as Grand County, Colo., theheadwaters region; Grand Valley, a town 10 miles west of Rifle,Colo.: Grand Valley between Palisade a411 Mack, Colo.; Grand

_-M-r-Tilli-5Vh3_117towers more than a mile above the Grand and Gun-,ninon River valleys; (,gaud Junction, Colo, ,a city apprOpriatilylocated at the confluence of the Grand and Gunnison Rivers;

= Grand County, Utah, which the river traverses after enteringUtah: and Grand View Point, the southern terminus of Island in

the Sky.

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naviewed at a distance oil foot, the-shaded relieNnaPtrig:,,At shows the general shape of the- land surface in and nearCanyonlarfda National Park to the same horizontal scale as itwould spear n in a spacecraft filling at a height of

0 feet, or about le ap was prepaxled by artistsides of four plasticrelief maps2Salina, b, calante quadrangles,

at a scale of 1 : 2501000dsing a simple e- andmoney-savingmethod he devised (Stacy, 1962).

An image of Canyonlands National Park and vicinity from asatellite at a height of about 570 miles is shown in figure 7. Note,.white clouds and black cloudshadows on right.

"these Pieetie relief maps, made by the U.S. Army Map Segii from the T.N. HubbardScientific Co., Boa 105, Northbrook, III 60062.-Topographic ma i at and ISZSOO for theentire arealcipographic mime at In of 1124,000 for much'uf the area and a ial topographic pap Or"Canyonlands National Park Vicinity'' at a scale of 16,500 are Available from the U.S . GeologicalSurvey, Denver Distribu --lion, Federal Con ter,15enver..edlo. EV= and from privately owned shopswhere Oats are sold. A revised edition of the latter, including Mier abiding, will soonbe available. An in-des map of Utah showing all available topographicmaps is fret upon request to the Above addrese.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK AND VICINITY, from NASA's unmanned Earth (>Resources Techrioloiy Satellite (ERTS-1),at height of about 570 miles. The space Imagemap was prepared from simultaneous scanning in three color bandsblue green, red,and near infraredthat were combined to produce a false-color image in which vigorousgreen yegitation (forests and irrigated areas) appears bright red, water dark blue, andsoils and bare rocks various shades of blue, blue green, otyallow green. Bright-blue areaon west bank of Colorado River Aout 10 miles southwest of Moab is the group of largeevaporation ponds of Texas Gultinc., shown in figures 31 and 7I. Images were taken at10:31;10 cm., Aug. 23, 1972401g-the 432d orbit, telemetereil to Alaska, videotaped,then photographed. Sun elevation was 53 degrees above horiz6n ;from azimuth of 130degrees. Image covers an area about 100 miles square. (See settle:) Location of Mon-ticello is app_ roximate; that of other towns is believed to be correct. Park boundaries arenot shown because of difficulty in locating them accurately, but features such asColorado and Green Rivers can easily be compared, with thoie in figure 1. (Fig, 7).

18

19

The vivid and varied colors of the bare rocks and the fantasticanyons, buttes, spires, columns, alcoves, caves, arches, ind-other erosional forms of the canyon country result from a for-tuitous combination of geologic and climatic'circumstances andevents unequaled in most other parts of the world.

irst Eutiong these events was the piling up, layer upon layer,:of thoosands of feet of sedimentary rocks under a wide varietyof environments. Sedimentary rocks of the region are,composedof particles ranging in size from clay and silt through sand and-gravel carried to their resting places by moving water, silt andsand particles transported by wind, and some materialspreCipitated from water solutions, such as limestone (calciumcarbonate), dolomite (calcium and magnesium carbonate), gyp-suni (calcium sulfate with" some water), anhydrite (calcium sul-fate alone), common salt (sodium- chloride), potash mineralssuch as potassium chloride, and a few other less common types.Smile of the materials were laid down in shallow seas that oncecovered the area (fig. 8) or in lagoons and estuaries near the sea.Some beds were deposited by streams in' inlard basins or plains,a werewere deposited in lakes, and some, like the NavajoSandstone, were- carried in by the wind. The character andthickneis of the sedimentary rocks, and the names and agesassigned to them by geologists, are shown in the rock column infigure 9 and in the cross sections in figures 10 and 15, and thehistOry of their deposition is discussed in the chapter "Summaryof Geologic History." The rock column was compiled mainlyfrom generalized stratigraphie sections given by Baker (1933,1946), McKnight (1940), Hinrichs and others (1967, 1971b), andF. A. McKeown and P. P. Orkild (U.S. Geol. Survey, unpub.data, Mar. 16, 1973).

Not.exposed in the area but present far beneath the,sedimen-tary cover, and exposed in a few surrounding places,- are ex-amples of the other two principal types of rocks: (1) igneousrocks, solidified from molten rock forced into or above younkerrocks along cracks, joints, and faults and (2) much older

20

metamorphic rocks, forolekfrorn other pre-existing rock typesby great he and pressacelikextreme depths: The particlescomprising Pie sedimentary rocks were derived by weatheringand erosion 'of rocks of all three types in the headwater legionsof the ancestral ColOrado River basin. Igneous rocks-of Tsz'tiaryAge (fig. 80) forni fib a..vnfearby La Sal, Abajo, and Hanky un-tains (fig. 7).

econ' among t e main events ea ing to e ormatio ,i ti

canyon, country was the raising and buckling of the Plateau' by .

earth forces so that it could he vigorously attacked by variousforces of erosion and so that the rock materials thus pried loo_ seor dissolved could eventually be carted away to the Guit ofCalifornia by the ancestral Colorado River. Some idea of theenormous volume of rock thus removed is apparent when youlodk doivn some ,2,000 feet to the river from any of the highoverlooks, such as-Dead Horse Point (fig. 15) br .Green RiverOverlook (fig.' 23), or -When you lay a straightedge across thethree high mesas in figure 10 and note the large volume of miss-ing cocks below. Not so apparent, however, is the fact that some10,000 feet of younger_ Mesozoic and Tertiary rocks that onceoverlay this high plateau also has been swept away. In all, theriver has carded thousands of cubit miles of sediment to the seaand is still actively at work on this gigantic earthmoving project.In an earlier reporf(Lohman, 1965, p. 42) I estimated that therate of removal may have been as great as about 3 cubic miles

SHALLOW INLAND SEA which covered Canyonlands and vicinity during Middle Penn-sylvanian time (Fig. El}

21

t-7.1177,"!#Av.

.

-F.1-offlOrrrei!iff;"7"'!. '!

".aro

eiroz lock Tabgo

ki 'fi

3 o.,o; 0 -

,

[

't!'t t

i flr r11,r

1

; t

i

t 'I" J.ff f[ii-T

. . -

11-1....q[111111llr In! q11.1111,1idli[fRORIIIII[Hilir

064541t,.:"

ROOK DIAN CANYCRAES Mfl ectiais 0305 rnetertfg. 9)

each century, For a few years the bulk of it.was rutiied intoLake Mead, but now Lake Powell is getting much of it. Whenthese and other reservoirs ultimately become filled" with 5edi-

mqnt, for reservoirs and lakes are but temporary thing theGulf of California will again become the burial ground.

_

_ Last but far from least among the factors responsible, for thegrandeur of he canyon country Is the -desertCtiMAM -which-allows us to sZe virtually every foot of thi vividly Colored naked,rocks and has'Inade possible the creation and preservation bfsuch a wide variety 'of 'fantastic sculptures. A wetter climatewould have produced a far different and smoother landscape inwhich most of the rocks and land forms would have been hiddenby vegetation. In the canyon lands the vegetation is mainly onthe high mes3s and on,the narrow flood plains bordering theriven, but scanty vegetation does grow on the gentle slos)e6rflats. . c

The deSert climate has combined with the nearly flat lyinglayers of sedim6nts of different character, hardness and..

thickness to-produce steep slopes having Many Cliffs and ledgesand generally sharp to angular edges rather than the subduedrounded forms of more humid regions, This has led geologists torefer to suer terrain as having "layer-cake geology," and this isbrought out by the profile in tle' rock -column (fig. 9), by thecross section (fig. 10), by figure 15, and by many of the otherphotographs, But the baker of this -cake was rathercarelessnot only do the Liters range widely in thickness andcharacter, but some are wedge shaped, thick on one side of thecake but thin or absent on the other, Then too, when he ran outof icing in the midst of a layer, he was apt to finish With adifferent lid or color, for no inspector was on the job to insure.

orderly construction.If all the rock strata in th, paric.were present-at one for lity,

their sequence and thickness would he those shown on the fight-

hand side of.the graphic section in figure 9. However- because of ,

the lateral changes in thickness and character and the wedgingout of certain beds, such as the White Rim Sandstone Member of

the Cutler Formation, no two sections of the strata are exactlyalike. ThiS will be brought out in photographs of different ON-

- posures of rocks in various parts of the park.An often-asked question is, why are most of the rocks so red?

This can he answered by one wordiron, the same pigment used _

in rouge and in paint for barns 4nd boxcars, Various oxides ofiron, some including water, produce not only brick red but alsopink, salmon, brown, huff, yellow, and even green or hluishgreen. This does not imply that the rocks could he considered as

1

5 WAOMITINS

sources of iron ore, for the merest trace of iron, generally only 1to 3 percent, is enough to produce even the darkestashades of red.Tht only rocks in the park that iontain virtually no iron arewhite sandstones of the White Rim Sandstone Member of theCutler FormatioNfigs. 21:24) and the Navajo Sandstone.As pointed out by Stokes, (1970, p: 3), microscopic examinationof the colored grains of quartz or other minerals,shows the,pig-rnent to be merely a thin coatirig on and between white orcolorless particles. Sand-or silt weathered from _such- rooks soodloses its color by tte scouring action of wind or water; so most ofthe sand dunes and sand bars are white or nearly an.The map (fig. 1) and cross section (fig. 10) of the7piark Showthat in general the major features of the landsca* lie at Uwedifferent and distinctive levels. A recently erected plaque' on,_Grand View Point appropriately refers to ,these_ as the"Three Worlds." The high plateaus, or mesas, ic.iand adjoiningthe park dominate the skylinein fact, the central one, betweenthe Green and Colorado Rivers, is appropriately named Island inthe Sky. If you stand on either the east or the west shore orthistowering cliff-bordered island, you can look across a sea of fan-tastic erosional forms to a similar clebordered shore at aboutthe same level. Closer inspection of the sea of rocks on eitherside shows relatively flat bencheS or platforms about halfway tothe bottom; below these are the generally steep sided or cliff-

bordered canyons of the two rivers and their larger tributagies,From some vantage points along the shore, such as Dead HorsePoint (fig. 15) or Green River Overlook (fig. 23), you carisee thedeepest level of allthe channels and nood plains of the Greenand Colorado Rivers.What caused the "Three Worlds" and the formidable cliffssupporting the high mesas or forming towering monoliths like:Angel Arch or Druid Arch (figs. 43, 54)? Differences in the oni-position, hardness, arrangement, and thickness of the rock layersdetermine their ability to 4,ithstand the forces of fracturing and

24

SECTION ACROSS CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK from North Point west (left),

via Grand View. Point in middle; to Needes Overlook at east (right), s the three

principal topographic levels nd character of the rock strata. Line of section bends at

Grand View Point, which is hernmost part. (Fig. 10)

erosion and hence their tendency to form cliffs, ledges, or slopes.Most of the cliff- or l dge-forming rocks are sandstones con-sisting of sand grains deposited by wind or water and latercemented logethei by s lica Si() ), calcium carbonate i ( ';10) ),

or one of the iron oxides uch asl..e ( ) ), but some hard, resistantledges are made of lim stone (calcium carbonate). The rockcolumn (fig. 9)-shows in eneral how these rock formations are,'sculptured by erosion an ow they protect underlying layersfrom more rapid erosion. he pearly vertical cliffs supporting

-the highest "mesas consist of the well:eemepted Wimte;iSandstone protected above y the even harder sandstone of the

Kayenta Formation. To bor ow from an earlier report of minetIohman, 1965, p.- 17),

Vertical cliffs and shaft's of the Wingate Sandstone endure only where the top of

the formation is capped by beds of the next yodnger rock unitthe Kayenta For-mation. The Kayenta is much mare resistant than the Wingate, so even a few

feet of the Kayenta protect the hock beneath.

In some places rempirtS of the overlyin Navajo Sandstonemake up the topmost unit of the stiff.

z ye

)The que4tion bf hair to see thezpark harino simple answer, forthe park is 'too vast arid complex comprehend by a (Wick visitto, any One of its many and varied parts or by any one means oftransportation. Soria, as did Major Powell, view it only from theriversbN. boat plus a few back-breaking climbs up the border-

ing canyon, walls. Others see only the small parts reachable by.passenger cars. The r?tore venturesome see vastly,more by jeep,foot, or horseback. And a few prefer to view it as the birdsdofrom the-air. Marty, those vvho,put aside their magazineslong enough, get bird's-eye views without half trying, forCanyonlands is beneath the principal air routes connecting LosAngeles with Grand Junction and Denver. Actually, a full ap-preciation of all the wonders and beauties of the park is possibleonly by combining all these approaches and methods of locomo-tion, but only a few fortunate souls such as Bates Wilson havethus been able to inspect virtually every square foot of it.The task clearly before me, then, is how best to presen,t such acomplex wonderland to you, the reader. The method I selected,after considerable thought and a few false starts, is to begin ofthe topthe high mesasand work my way downward much asthe rivers have cone in carving out this fantastic area, to some ofthe broad benchlands beneath the mesas and eventually to theriver channels and deep canyons. Although the approach Iselected may not be the best, and admittedly is but one of sev-eral that comes to mind, I hope it gets the job done.

26

33

Even though the "peninsular" mesas east and west of Island in

the Skylkno,kn fespecti y as Hatch Point and he OrangeCliffs, he outside the resent -hqundaries, they provide

breathtaking views of irn ant features within the park, so

brief descriptibn's ofhern are included belOw. But first, let us

take a closer look at Island inNie.Sky.

Island in the SkyAs the map (fig. I) shows, Island in the Sky is really a fork of a

wedge-shaped peninsula extending southward between the tworivers. An outlier to the south named Junction Butte has already

been severed from the main peninsula by erosion and now is a

true island. (See frontispiece and fig. 22.) A large chunk of

Island in th Sky south of The Neck was about to be severed by

erosion front the main peninsula to become a true island, when

recent widening and grading of the road gave it a tempgra

reprieve. When mlifamily and I first squeaked oc/t-this narrowneck in 1960 by jeep, fortive,glances to right or left showed the

two canyons perilously close, and complete severance seemeinimingnt. The road builders have staed off disaster fair -a. few

Ihqusa,nd years, but ultimately the large sectien to the south will

become another island;:e.pd. a bridge will a required to connect

it to the Mainland_ ance from the air before the road

widening xs shown 11.1

4

27

AERIAL VIEW OF THE IWCK AND SHAFER TRAIL, looking southwest, taken beforerebuilding of park road on mesa top. Cliff walled canyon to right of The Neck,'in middle,drains westward to the Green River; south fork of Shafer Canyon to left dr'ains,eastwardto Colorado River. This is the narrowest part of Island in Sky. Photograph by NationalPark Service. (Fig. 111

Thc c nlr aflut, !Slant] in t o Sky into rsMLA int 10 miles nort hve t of N1001). or 21 milessoutheast nt Junction in I lrr:tat highway 70. From1".S, road climbs ollorcul Sevellinde Canyon pastsandstone cliffs of the \Vulgate, Kaye-nta. and Navajo For-whit ion: to reach the high mesa. There, just -offshore- In theHort h, are anclwred I he -hattleships- that guIrd theisianii:\lerrimac and 1\lonitor 13Ates (fig. 121. These land-mark: are composed or the Eptrada nektons the- same rockthat forms Church Roth atAlie entrance the Needles districtfitT. :37) tin.1 tlwit shapes the spectacti ches in Arches

MERRIMAC l_.EFT) AIN MONITOR BUTTES guard north jarance to Island in the Sky.White rock near middle Navajo Sandstone. Buttes comprise all three members_ of En=trada Sandstonei remnant white top of Moab Member, vertical cliffs of Slic RockMember, and sloping base of Dewey Bridge Member. (Fig. 12)

t.

National Park. All thre I 1( F; (Ili ( Wright andnihers, 1,.11i2i.'a..-;, noted in the fiv.uri... 12 caption, :111' proseI1111ertias .011 :Ls at Church Nut L Elevcil miles from the Junerion \vithl':-z-: Iliv,hway 16;1 a v.raded road to the rivh.t, allod Iltrr ethief

Jrad. dots IC, miles (loft n Co the (ireen Rivet% where it moots1-itli road':!: follim.ino- the 1-k-el. tenth upstream and down reamThe road lipt ream leads to two uranium mimes in thin lower part,of Alineral Canyon which were reactivated in 1972 and Il17: The,:\vitchhcks ire iplite spect:ieular and 'ire reminiscent at theShafer Frail. Three miles south oft_ e I torset hien rail turnoff isa fork t a the road t o t h e lift t h e pavement continues (it I I I adI lo-w Point, and st:ntivlit ahead a yzt-ad,.d ron(Lle_ads southwardto Thii 155 tail in l_ hi, Sky ilistTit:i )t' Canyonlands National Park.

of kla,..m-, in I ho Sky Ills a scat tyro(' growth of (boon and(

,I - _I SC V.C1":11 largL-e flat arc as. such is I 'irays-I a ot in uff'ir'a .--zanily soil to mport :1 margli.. ofuTass :u-H1 writ1,--4. Much is used fnr vraziu: howcv( 12-1%.1zing in!hi; part of thi hark will he discontinued In 197.).

29

DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK

Let us follow the pav road from U.S. Highway 163 all theway to bead Horse Point, which was set aside as a state park in1957. The park has a visitor center, museum, moderncampgro6nds and picnic facilities, and piped water, whichiahauled all the way from Moab. An entrance fee of $1 permits usto drive across the narrow neck to a parking area near the pointproper, which is protected by stone walls and is provided with aramada, benches, paths, and sanitary facilities. From DeadHorse Point we get breathtaking views in several d ections, in-cluding a l4op.of the Colorado River called the Goos Neck, 2,000feet nearly straight down.

CANE CREEK ANTICL4NE, lobking northeast toward the La Sal Mountains from Dead"Horse Point. Colorado River cuts across Crest aLmiddle right,lbove which is Anticline 1.

Overlook. (See fig. 31.) Jeep tail and part of Shafer dome lie below.

How did such a ma nificent viewpoint get such a macabrename? Dead Horse Point was named for a sad but colorfullegend concerning a band of wild horses that once roamed thehigh mesas, The point is really an _embryo island separated fromthe mainland by a narrow neck bgely wide enough for the pres-,

t road. In the early cowboy days the island was used as anatural corral in which wild mustangs were penned up behind ashortferice across the neck so that the better ones could he

30

IXsorted out and driven to .mines in 'the San Juan Mountains ofColorado. A band of horses corralled too long without waterallegedly died of thirst within sight of the river2,000 feet below,hence the name of the point, or at least 50 e version of thestory goes. Some versions allude to the wranglers as cowboys;others,- as "horsath lees:, _, '_.

To the northeast we can see iti; Cane Creek anticlinean up-ward fold of the rocks behind which loqm the La Sal Moun-tains (fig. '13). A' cutaway view of a typical anticline is shown infigure 14. A better view of the Cane retenticline can be Seenfrom Anticline Overlook, as shown in figure 31. From our van-tage point at Dead Horse Point, we can see much of Hatchiloint,including Anticline Overlook, by looking east and southeast.Spectacular views of the northern part of Canyonlands Nation'Park lie to the south, southwest, and east. Looking southwest(fig. 15), we see most of the rock formations exposed inCanyonlandsmore than can Ile Seen from any-other vantagepoint-in or near` the park. The ?tames of the visible rock units

---rritic.shown i re 15 can be compared with the complete list in therock column fig. 9). Parts of Shafer dome, a "dosed" rounded

anticline, ape visible in the lower left of figurei5 and in thelower right of figure 13. Its general domelike-shape is outlinedby the bluish-white Shafer lithestone, a marker bed which alsocaps the bench on the pebinsula within the Goose Neckof theriver. This limestone, which here forms the top of the Rico For-mation, is not shown in the rock column (fig. 9) because its ex-.posure is limited to the Shafer dome sad the Cane Creek an-ticline and name is used only locally by prospectors for oiland gas.

CUTAWAY VIEW OF ANTICLINE, or upfold of(Fig 14)

he rocks. From H 1969, p.

=WHITE RI M-,

-WHITE RIM

LOURING SOUTHWEST FROM. DEAD HORSE POINT toward island in the Sky

on right skyline; Orange Cliffs on left skyline, Colorado Rivet and White Rim

Trail bolo, and Shafer dome at lower lett Sketch from photograph shows

names of rocks. (Compare with fig, 9d (Pit, 15)

7

Ate Rim 5s,

Shafer limestone

(Chide F)

Chi Fin r_rile

Moenkopi Fm

Cutler Fm

RICO F-rn

Note that the White Rim Sandstone Member of the CutlerFormation, referred to hereinafter simply as the White .RimSandstone, becomes thinner toward the right (northeast) infigure 15 but is absent entirely in figure 13, just a short distanceto the northeast. The gradual disappearance of recognizablebeds of this type toward the northeast, including the dis-appearance of some limestone beds containing marine fossilsare examples of whaLgeologists call facies changes. Here thechanges result from the fact that while strata were beingdepos4d in or near ancient seas that lay to the southwest, bedsof different character were being laid down on land by streamsemanating from the northeast.'This will be gone into in moredetail in discussions that accompany illustrations to follow, par-ticularly figures 27, 31, and 35_

NORTH ENTRANCEThe north entrance to the Island in the Sky district of

Canyonlands National Park used to be 6 miles south of the junc-tion with the paved road to Dead Horse Point, but since the landadditions of November_1971, it is only 41/2 miles south of thisjunction. A temporary trailer-housed entrance station marksthe otd boundary.

SHAFER AND WHITE RIM TRAILSDuring the early 1956's a remarkable, but hair-raising road

known as Shafer\trrail was cut down the face of the cliffs belowThe Neck to reach the C Group of uranium claims near the headf Lathrop Canyon. It branches southward from the park road a

mile south of the new entrance, then descends in a series orswitchbacks. The aerial view (fig. 11) shows the upper trail andThe Neck before the park road was graded and widened, and aview from near The Neck (fig. 16) shows the precipitous cliffsthe trail descends. It follows the general route of an old foottrail. ,

Shafer Trail connects with the White Rim Trail, which, as thename suggests:Fs built:mainly on the White Rim, after whichthe White Rim Sandstone Was named. The White Rim Trail canbe followed northeastward to join the pavement at Potash, or itcan he followed southward along the Colorado River canyons to

SHAFER TRAIL, from just south of The Neck (figs. 1, 11). Navajo Sandstone is above (>road at left, Kayenta Formation forms upper half of cliff below road, and WingateSandstone forms lower, vertical half of cliff; lower part of road is in Chinle Formation.(Fig. 16)

34

41

Junction Butte, thence northward along Stillwater andLabyrinth Canyons of the Green River to and beyond thenorthern boundary of the park. At Horsethief Bottom, you canleave the canyon by Horsethief Trail and rejoin the paved roadleading northward to U.S. 163, At Lathrop Canyon, 8 or 10 milessouth of where Shafer Trail meets the White.Rim Trail, a branchof the White Rim Trail leads downward to the Colorado River,where picnic tables vat sanitary facilities are provided.,This: isused as a lunch stop by some boating groUps.

Although some two=wheel-drive cars or trucks have traversedthe White Rim and Shafer Trails, they may encounter troublewith deep sand, washouts, or fallen rocks, so four-wheel-drivevehicles are recommended. In the summer these trails shouldnot be attempted without plenty of water,l-ind two vehiclestraveling together provide an added margin of safety. Allvehicles43hould carry emergency equipment including a shovel,tow chain or rope, jack, tire tools, and other necessary items.Geologists and uranium prospectors working along the WhiteRim Trail have obt'ained good drinking water frterr small springsthat flow from the base of the White Rini Sandstone in manyplaces (Neal Hinrichs, U.S. Geol. Survey, oral commun., Feb.19731 After rains, runoff gathers in large potholes in the WhiteRim Sandstone in some places and affords emergency drinkingwater. Several such potholes filled with water are shown infiaire 17. Some potholes occur also in the Cedar Mesa Sandstonein the Needles district.

GRAND VIEW POINTAbout a mile southwest of The Neck, the road crosses ( _ A

Pasturethe widest and flattest part of Island in the Sky. Thedrive over this flat grassland yields not the slightest hint of theawesome cliff-walled chasms on eitfirr side of the island. Some r)Miles southwest of The Neck, both the island and the roadbranch like a Y. At a point 0.4 mile north of the Y, Mesa Trailleads one-quarter mile east to Canyon Viewpoint Arch, whichframes the: Colorado River canyon and the La Sal Mountains(fig. 18). This arch, at the very !top edge of the cliff, is composedof the lower part of the NavajO Sandstone. The only other archof Navajo Sandstone in or near the park that I know of is thesmall 014e shown in figure 33, but of course there um' be others.

CANYON VIEWPOINT ARCH, framing Colorado River canyon at e0,4 mile north of Y in Flap_d in the Sky road. Arch is in lower part(Fig. 18)

36

43

t end of Mesa TrNavajo Sandstone.

- _NATURAL TANKS, filled with runoff- from rain, serve as emergency sources of drinkingwater. Largest tank in foreground contains 4 feet of water and small fresh-wafer shrimp.

So-called tanks, or potholes, are formed partly by water dissolving the calcium carbonatecement and partly by wind or water removing the resulting loose sand grains. View is

north toward Junction Butte from point about a mile south of the White Rim Trail. Red

rocks in hill on right are in lower ptiFt_of Moenkopi Formation. Photograph by E. N.

HinrichS. (Fig. 17)

37

(10

f)

INDEX MAP showing localities where most of

the phologrgphs.were Wen, Arrows Om to

distpt views: Numbers refer to figure ITUMbers:

(ht19)

IJ

y

THE WHITE RIM, looking northeast toward La Sal Mountains from overlook 3 miles north/of Gr3nd khcw Point. White Rim Sandstone here is thicker than near Dead Horse Pont.i-(fig 15) but thinner than rn Monument Basin and Stillwater Canyon (figs. 21, 23). (Fig.201

Let 11 I 11 rich 1.1 h irl !he V :Intl fullusl then;Lrf,)%. ;1.;[11(1 \ Point rut.;11)()tit C) miles (I) the 111:1111

*101)1 Al) (I !I it !hi. .,hut i() the west.he 11\vi t 11:tt it the MN. zip) Sand ,time zifford.:4

Mot` 1)1 the ( 11'.1 inriodingTurk, 1 fc;td ifj 21, :21). 11111 the pon-d w t 1);_tt.::1110;:irea

V,cl c:itIV(111-,cut iril flit While Him ;Intl ()1 the 1,;i he%-()n(I (1)1:.2()1 Vitk 1-(irmls the lir(1:1(1

the White hire, in herc nftih thikerv., here -;ccn neiLv I Itt7dd I teem' iCin_ 1)L

Ihree ))111».).-ar11 t iis Iii 0-zind w\\ Puint :And;11icr illy. I ;r1Ind

I{l.t ^I 2.()(H) let,t iwl() \ l'iInt 11;1, R dutd)le1111-,inin)! t',7. 55 i ee !rim! her( it I fiv. 21 )! Atmnr reet ,pcct:A(111:ti Ahmilnivnt ftisin, cut 14,1( the \\Thite

the 1/1 the Cutler Forma-i Ii,11 I'n,. \\, mitt rill! tilicker th:in t()

MONUMENT BASIN FROM GRAND VIEW POINT, Needles Overlook on left skyline, Abajo >Mountains on right skyline. Red spires and cliffs in basin are Organ Rock Tongue ofCutler Formation. (Fig. 21)

)

I40

k

1

).1

10

W

the northeast (fig. 20) but thinner than to the west (fig. 23),because it forms a wedge-shaped body that thickens westward.In the distance southeastward are the Abajo Mountains, justwest of Monticello, Utah. The prominent projection on HatchPoint on the Itft skyline is Needles Overlook, from which thephotograph in figure 27 was taken. A closeup view of MonumentBasin, showing Junction Butte and Grand View Point in thebackground, is shown in figure 22. The slender spire in theforeground has a measured height of 305 feet (Findley, 1971, p.78).

MONUWNT BASIN FROM THE AIR, looking rth to Junction Butte and Grand ViewPoint. Spiel of Organ Rock Tongue in foregroun_ 05 feet high. White top of CedarMesa Sandstone is at bottom of photograph. PhotograWby National Paik Service (Fig.22)

42

P

GREEN FRIER OV.c_iki=0,0iK

about a quartet' mile west of the V. a left fork of the road goesabout a mile and a half to Green River Overlook, which providesa superb view of Stillwater Canyoh of the Green River, theOrange Cliffs beyond, and the Henry Mountains in the'extremedistance (fig. 23). Note that here the White' Rim Sandstone is

-------much thicker than in preceding views. The prominent butteenclosed by the loop of the river is known as Turks Head and isbetter seen from the air (fig. 24). The light-colored band near thebase of the cliffs in the background of figure 24 is characteristicof the bleached upper part of the Moenkopi Formation in thispart of the park. According to F. A. MeKeown and P. P. Orkild(U.S. Geol. Survey, unpub. data, Feb, 16, 1973), petoliferousarm-aerial (: ' odor generally occurs in this bleached zone and inthe basal reds of Moenkopi:

The cii4 r n north of Green River Overlook has no-liter at this . i itin (1973), but water from wells in Taylor Can-

., von will eventually iped to nearby parts of Island in theSky.

Five miles northwest of the V we store to Upheaval Dome, oneof the most unusual geographic d geologic features of thepark. Viewed from the air t it resembles somewhat avolcanic or meteor crater and has been called such 1): some. 0Because beds of salt are known to underlif th t park, spite havesuggested that the salt may have thicken d welled upwardtct form a salt dome, similar to domes along the Gulf Coast (Mat-tor`, 196). Ilowever, only 1,470 feet of salt was encountered inan oil test just east of Upheaval Dome (Robert J, Hite, U.S, Geol.Survey, oral commun., Feb, 13, 19731; so although salt may haveplayed a role, Uphcatil Dome clearly is not a salt dome withdimensions similar teethe Gulf Coast types. It may be related toa mound on the deep-seated Precambrian rocks (4esting andPlouff, 195(, fig 3; Joesting and others, 1966, p. l3. 14, 17), butthe exact origin of the dome is not clear.

The central part has theStructure of a dome, in that the stratadip downward away from the middle. A ringlike syncline, oridownward fold in the rock layer_ 5 (fig. 26), surrounds the dome,beyond which the strata resume their nearly flat position, Thewhite rock in the bottom of the crate rlike depression is not salt,but jumbled large fragments of. the White Rim Sandstone.Surrounding that are slopes of the Moenkopi and Chinle For-mations, chill of the Wingate Sandstone, a circular hench of the

__,,/

nti,41-

.

L

W t

$TILLVIATER CANYON AND GREEN RIVER, looking southwest from Green River loop of rivet, rn rriatrill covering nearby parts'of thelVbite Rim is lower part ofOverlook, Orange Cliffs in background, Henry Mountains on right skyline, lurks Head in Moenhopi Formation, (Fit 23)

TURKS HEAD, an erosional remnant of the White Rim Sandstone supported by red beds,of Organ Rock Tongue, in loop of Green River. Aerial view looking north. Photograph byNational Park Service. (Fig. 24)

UPHEAVAL DioyE aerial view looking northwest toward junction of Upheaval and Tay lotCanyons wilkLibrinth Canyon of Green River. Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards,

1971 National Geographit Society. (Fig. 25)

CUTAWAY VIEW OF SYNCLINE, oridownfold of the rocks From Hansen(1969, p. 108). (Fig. 26)

Kayenta Formation', and outer rarriparts of the NavajoSandstone. Upheaval Canyon leads to Stillwater Canyon of theGreen River at the upper left.

On mile before the road ends, a well-marked foot trail 4eadsto the top of Whale Rock, a prominence on tlw Navajo Sandstonethat forms,th of t dome. At the end of the road,-another foot t ail ascends rom the picnic area to the foot of theWingate Sari -tone cliffs around the central part of the dome.The views of the dome from these trails are interesting, but youare really too close to get a true-picture of the unusual feature,which is obtainable only from the air, as shown in figure 25.

Just west of -Upheaval Dome, Bighorn Mesa is connected toSteer Mesa by a neck only 15 feet wide flanked by 300-foot ver-tical cliffs, as pointed out by McKnight (1940, p. 12). I laterlearned from Ed McKnight (oral commun., June 6, 1973) thatduring his field Work in this area in 1926 he was riding a muleacross this narrow neck when the half- asleep mule suddenlybecame aware of the dropoff on one side and began to turnaround and head back. Ed hastily but cautiously dismounted

.

and led the mule across! When this neck is finally breached byerosion, Bighorn Mesa will be just as isolated and inaccessible asJunction Butte, now cut off from Grand View Point. (See fron-tispiece and fig. 27.1

Hatch PointThe high mesa east of Canyonlands National Park and the

Colorado River canyons, called Hatch Point, contains severalvantage points ideally suited for viewing scenic features of thepark and adjacent. areas. Hatch Point is part of the vast publicdomain administered by the Bureau of Land Managementa

46

sister agency of the Geological Survey and the National ParkService, all in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Bureau,hereinafter referred to simply as the B.L.M., has made manyimprovements on Hatch Point, including fine roads, two moderncampgrounds with sanitary facilities and piped water fromwells, and two overlooks with protective fences, benches, paths,sanitary facilities, and ramAdas containing panels that describethe features visible from the viewpoints, Because of these im-ptiovements, the B.L.M. has appropriately named this area Tan-yorr Rims Recreation Area."Geologically, Hatch Point is similar to Island in the Sky. Bothare bordered by towering cliffs of the Wingate Sandstone cappedby the resistant Kayenta Formation, and rounded remnants ofthe overlying Navajo Sandstone rise above the otherwise-flatmesa surface in many places,Access to this high tableland is by a good paved road leadingt from U.S. Highway 163 at a point 32 miles south of Moaband 22 miles north of Monticello. About 5 miles west of thehighway we pass Windwhistle Campground, nestled in an at-tractive cove of Entrada Sandstone cliffs, and 16 Miles from thehighway we reach an intersection. From here it is 7 miles westby paved road to Needles Overlook, 10 miles north to AnticlineOverlook_ Like the other high mesas, Hatch Point containsperipheral areas of scattered pifion and juniper trees and largeflat grasslands used for grazing Grain tanks here and therestore« er feed for the cattle.

NEEDLES OVERLOOKLet us follow t went to Needles Overlook, from whichfine morning views of onlands ational Park can be seen tothe south and west. Northkesto;: d (fig. 27) we look 10 milesacross the Colorado River canyon to Junction Butte and GrandView Point. (This view is along the line of the east half of the=cross section in fig. 10.) The feather edge of the White RimSandstone caps the White Rim west of the Colorado River, hutthe White-Rim is absent on the east side of the canyon and in theentire Needles district to the southwest, where the importantscenic fgatures are carved from the underlying Ce-dar MesaSandstone Member of the Cutler Formation, referred toher einafter si ly as the Cedar Mesa ,Sandstone. Both thesesandstones a missing in the foreground of figure 2r- -theirbeing,- aken by thin beds of red siltstone, mudstone, and

.)

sandstone similar to those that comprise the Organ Rock Tongueshown betweent the, two sandstones in figure 22. These are act -'ditional examples of facies changes mentioned earlier (p. 34).

47

JUNCTION BUTTE AND GRAND VIEW POINT, lOoking northwest from Needles Overlook.(Fig. 27)

Turning north from the intersection 7 miles east of NeedlesOverlook, we traverse a nearly flat grassy tableland to HatchPoint Campground. In figure 1 the campground is shown 'vest ofthe old road; the new road is west of the campground, but nomap of the new route was available for plotting in figure 1.About a mile before we reach the campground a jeep trail headswest then northwest about miles to Canyonlands Overlook, ascant mile from, but some 1,100 feet above, the eastern border ofCanyonlands National Park. This overlook affords fine views ofthe Colorado River canyons and the eastern shore of Islacd inthe Sky, but at present (1973) there are no plans to improve thetrail for passenger-car travel.

Two miles north of the campground we cross a minor dt Linageleading northeastward into the north fork of Trough SpringsCanyon, The 13.L.M. plans a road down this canyon to KaneSprings Canyon, 1,100 feet below, where it will connect bothwith a scenic drive' to Moab, the lower part of which is paved,and with the jeep trail going west over Hurrah Pass 310 andthe -nce south along the eastern benches of the canyons of theColorado River to the Needles district of the park. E. NealHinrichs I.S.( Geol. Survey, oral commun. Feb. 16, 19731reported specimens of blue celestite (strontium sulfate,and barite (barium sulfate, l',,c-4O.) in the Cutler Formation at rapoint where a sharp bend of this jeep trail crosses a fault, or

fracture _(fig. 56), in the northeast fork of Lockhart Canyon(shown in fig. 1 as the eastern twist loop of the trail 'about 6 milesnortheast of Lockhart Basing. Farther south, the trail swingswest of Lockhart Basin, whose center exposes-part of a synclinei(fig. -28).

SYNCLINE IN CORE OF LOCKHART BASIN, near Needles 0 look. Dish-shaped roof isWingate Sandstone, partly bleached; sloping sides are Chin) Formation; dark slopingledge at left middle ground is' Moss Back Member of Chin resting on MoenkopiFormation. Photograph by E. N. Hinrichs. (Fig. 28)

Two and a half miles farther north, or about 2 miles south ofAnticline Uverlo'ok, a short road leads to the vest and entirelyaround a small conical butte of the Navajo Sandstone. This newcircular drive has not yet been formally named and is simplycalled the 1:43 loop; as designated in the surveyor's notebook. Itaffords splendid views to the west and is to be equipped k jai piNnic tables. Looking west Ifig . 29) we see a \V-shaped loop of theColorado River. Dead Horse Point on the right skyline. andIsland in the Sky on the distant skyline. The strata curving overShafer dome appelf' in the tight middle backgi`onnd.

vitw WESTWARD FROM U-3 LOOP. Dead Horse Point tright skyline, Island in the Sky. capped by Navajo Sandstone in extreme distance, Kay a Formation in foreground-at

left Cliffs topping ridge at left are Wingate Sandstone protected by caprock of the -Kayenta Formation; red slopes beneath cliffs are Chinle Formation, with dark ledge ofMoss Back Member at base; steep slopes and ledges beneath are Moenkopi Formation,lower part of which is Hoskinnini Tongue; reddish gentle slopes below are Cutler Forma-tion, nearly flat benches above Colorado River are Rico Formation, with Shafer limestoneat top. (Fig. 29;

INF_OVE...: LOOKTwo more miles takes us to Anticline Overlt r the most sub-

lime views in this part of the area.'To the not t 30) we lookacross the northeast flunk of the Cane Creek anticline, an upfold)f the rocks (fiRs, 13, 141. Hurrah Pass straddles the narrow wall

separating the Colorado River and its canyon at the left fromKane Springs Canyon on the right, The Colorado River appearsagain in the right background, where it leaves Moab Valley. TheKings Bottom syncline, or (low nfold ( fig. 261, seen in the middledistance between the Cane Creek anticline and the Mbab an-tieline, exposes it wide area of the Navajo Sandstone. The ridgeon the right skyline, composed of the Entrada Sandstone, is TheWindows Section of Arches National Park, and the left skylineshows faintly the distant Book Cliffs.

I In the east wall of Kane Springs Canyon jtist to right offigure is the Atomic king mine in the Cutler Formation, fromAluch,m ran mem ore has been !rid a 2

rt intervals during the last

o :1 years.

LOOKING NORTH FROM ANTICLINE OVERLOOK, across axis of Cane Creek anticline.Unimproved road crosses Hurrah Pass in foreground. Colorado River at left is nearPotash and in right background is at Moab. For description of strata, see caption forfigure 31. (Fig. 30)

To the-northwest (fig. 31; see also fig. 13) is a textbook exampleof a Rrck foldthe .Cane Creek anticlinelaid bare by theColorado River cutting directly across its crest (fig.- 1). An7ticlines are noted as sources of or at least hunting grounds for oiland gas; and -this.one is 'ho exception,.although production hasbeen relatively Small and was stopped altogether .in about 196.3.Some oil and gas was produced also from wells on the, northflank of Shafer dome, just beneath Dead Horse Point (figs. 1,

.15), but other favorable-looking structures farther south thatwere tested; Such as Lockhart anticline, Rustler dome, and Gill-son dome (fig. 1), failed to yield commercial amounts (Baker,1933, p. 80-84). Some of the colorful events in the early day_ s ofwildcatting are noted on page 100.

Exploration for oil and gas led to the discovery of potash.beneath several anticlines in eastern Litah and westernColorado: According to Hite (1968, p. 325), the Cane Creek an-ticline is underlain by about 5,200 feet of -salt-bearing rocks inthe Paradox Member of the Hermosa Formation (fig. 9), ofwhich about 84 percent is halite (common salt, sodium chloride)and associated potash salts (sylvite, potassium chloride). Thepotash mine of Texas Gulf, Inc., is shown at the right in figure 31The white area to the left of the mine is waste common salt,which is recovered with the potash salts, and the white area withdark stripes at the left is a small part of more than 400 acres ofevaporation ponds built to separate the salts. These ponds alsocan be seen from Dead Horse Point. The dark stripes are thevisible parts of plastic membranes lining the ponds. Mining ofan 11-foot bed of ore began by usualunderground methods fromthe bottom of a shaft 2,788 feet deep but became too difficultbecause of intense and intricate folding of the salt beds. Now thesalts' are being extracted by a method mvolving solution,wherein river water is introduced into the former workings andallowed to stand long enough to dissolve the salts, then the brineis pumped out to evaporation ponds, and the valuable potashsalts are separated from the sodium salts. Closeup views of themine and evaporation ponds are seen in figures 70 and 71.

< CANE CREEK ANTICLINE, looking northwest from Anticline Overlook. Colorado River is

cutting into limestone of unnamed'upper member of Hermosa Formation in lower bench

at crest of fold; Rico Formation, with bluish-white Shafer limestone at top, forms upper

curved bench; remainder of formations are as given in caption for figure 29. Potash mine

(right) and evaporation ponds (left) are operated by Texas Gulf, Inc. Merrimac and

Monitor Buttes on right skyline are shown in figure 12. (Fig. 31)

53

As noted earlier, most of the re dily recognizable thsuch as the White Rim Sandstone inch out south of here, andfigure 31 marks the northeasternmost exposure of the Shaferlimestone at the top of the Rico Formation. Northeast from herethe- Rico and 'overlying Cutler Formation ar44- not readilyseparable and are included in the so-called Cutler Forpation un-differentiated -This land-laid unit of red sandstonb, siltstone,and shale is as much as 8,000 feet thick just southwest of the an--dent Uncompahgre highland (present Uncompahgre Plateau, inwestern Colorado and eastern Utah), from which it wt 'derivedby erosion during the Permian PeriQd (fig 80):

Orange CliffsThe high mesas west of Canyonlands National Park do notform as distinct a mainland as does Hatch Point, but rather arebroken tip into a maze of peninsulas and islands, as shown infigure 1. Owing to the gentle northwestward dip of the rockstrata, the attitude of the mesas declines from about 7,000 feet inthe south to about 5,300 feet in the north and northwest, wherethe whore aspect of the cou 1t, ry becomes more rounded and sub-dued. As shown on the map (fig. 1), however, the name OrangeCliffs is applied to much of the eastward-facing cliffs, which aremade of the Wingate Sandstone capped by the Kayenta Forma-tion. Remnants of the Navajo Sandstone increase in number tothe north and west, where remnants of the next two youngerrock unitsthe Carmel Formation and the EntradaSandstonealso occur. Th , s, the cliff-forming units dipdownward beneath young rocks that form the relatively flat

occur.

River Desert\to t northwest, also referred to as the SanRafael Desert. Figur 32 is a view southeastward from TheSpur, shown on the map (fig. 1) as the northern section of theOrange Cliffs.At present (1973), the areas west of the Gieen River and themain stem of the Colorado River are the least accessible of anyin the park and in this respect ha'e not changed much sinceButch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch roamed the area, except thatthe former main horse trails are now jeep trails. A secondaryroad south from the town of Green River goes past the northside of the Horseshoe Canyon Detached Unit (figs. 1, 2) and con-nects with another secondary road to the west, which joins Utah

VIEW SOUTHEASTWARD FROM THE SPUR, in northern section of Orange Cliffs. June-non Butte and Grand View Point on left skyline; Abajo Mountains in extreme distance toright of center. Photograph byParker Hamilton, Flagstaff, Ariz. (Fig, 32)

54

eI

LOOKING NORTH DOWN MILLARD CANYON from head of canyon a mile northwest ofFrench Spring. Note small arch or window in the Navajo Sandstone atupper left, which isshown in figure 1 as "Arch.- The Navajo is underlain by the cliff-forming Kayenta Forma-tion and Wingate Sandstone resting upon a sloping base of the Chinle Formation and,farther downstream, ledges and slopes of the Moenkopi Formation. Photograph, byParker Hamilton, Flagstaff, Ariz. (Fig. 331

51;

Highwa 24 at Temple Junction, 20 miles north of Hanksville;

s" -are not considerednear Horseshoe Canyon a jeep trail leads south to the OrangeCliffs. Owing to blowing sand,, these "roreliable for -passenger cars and are best negotiated by four-wheel -drive vehicles or horses.

According to Baker (nn, p.,12), the road leadling eastwardalong North Point was used by the Wild Bunch in traveling toFrench` Spring, whence they dropped down Millard Canyon (fig.33) and crossed the Green River at Bonita Bend, which is justeast of Buttes of the Cross (fig. 64). They also followed the Old,

Spanish Trail from the Henry Mountains eastward across theDirty Devil Over, up North Hatch Canyon, across Sunset Pass,and down across the Land of Standing Rocks to Spanish Bottomon the Colorado River (fig. 1) After crossing the river, theyfollowed the trail up Lower" Red Lake Canyon (fig. 59) andeastward through The Needles ti) Monticello.

57

The White Rim, a broad benchland some 1,000-1,200 feetbelow the southern half of Island in the Sky, and some of theassociated benchlands west of the Green River ana between the

lorado River and Hatch Point have already been discussed asewed from Island in the Sky, the White Rim Trail, or Hatch

Point. There remain for consideration several other prominentbenchlands.

The Maze and Land of Standing RocksThe Maze, an intricately carved series of canyons and gullies,

has been called a "Thirty-square-mile puzzle in -sandstone"(Findley, 1971, p. 71-73), and one can readily visualize a king-sized rat struggling in vain to find a way out. The rock is theCedar Mesa Sandstone, which hgre underlies red shales beneaththe White Rim Sandstone. South of The Maze an area containingtall spires was appropriately named by the Indians "Toom'-pinIvu-near' Tu-weap;" or "Land of Standing Rocks" (Powell, 1875,p. 154).

West of The Maze is Elaterite Basin, so named because of adark-brown elastic mineral resin called elaterite, which seepsfrom the White Rim Sandstone. One of these seeps is shown infigure 34, and a wedge-shaped layer of the sandstone is shown infigure 25. In the Range Canyon area shown in figure 35, sandwas being laid down in an offshore bar at the left, while red siltsand mud's were being deposited on land to the right. The darkbed just above the White Rim n6ar the'middle of the photographis the Hoskinnini Tongue of the Moenkopi Formation, which in-tertongues with and pinches out in beda of the Moenkopi Forma-tion to left. These are excellent examples of what geologists callfacies changes.

South of the Land of Standing Rocks are equally colorfulareas known as The Fins and Ernies Country (named after Er-nie Larson, an early-day sheep-man). A prominent row of spiresnear Cataract Canyon is known as The Doll House (fig. 36).

/'58

ELATERITE SEEPING FROM WHITE RIM SANDSTOLIE in Elaterjte.Basin west of TheMaze, Elaterite is a dark-brown elptic mineral resin. Photograph by Donald L. Baars.(Fig. 34)

WHITE RIM SANDSTONE in north wall of Range Canyon, south of Elaterite Basin, Bedthins from 230 feet at left (west) to 38 feet at right (east), and disappears (by facieschange into red shales) a short distance farther east, See description in text of pinch outof Hoskinnini Tongue. Bed at top of mesa is Moss Back Member of Chin le Formation.Photograph-by Donald L. Baars. (Fig.-35)

THE DOLL HOUSE, eroded from Cedar Mesa Sandstone just west of Spanish Bottom,above Cataract Canyon. Notice the red layer at right offset by a fault. Photograph byParker Hamilton, Flagstaff, Ariz. (Fig. 36(

Thc 'I diSt riCt is iitutrein i I!17:41 the !mist hipt.hl-df,'\ Slit nC 1110 If 11 't INA eStAll dosign. tintaidttni, tur this district Ow )2Tc:di-A nurrilicti arid

t)Ispootroddiut Ncilltsi- proper, Thelirt'ffilutithTd cido*-;al archoi-i) and ot

taro, ulna such as t.ii:qitia \ki Hat add ('hush's\ 11'12,1111;i kVOIc VM`Ivly (ir I,rchislnru rIIII1S and plc-

',tnd ()ViTitmk cHr vi)%\tirp the jnittitl u1`

\V, :_111 th(' (Hir110. 1,11,;(` file VCIIIICIn/ ;aid Thy MiZi.`, district 1:4 ;.1flu(lIcr ri the nrUndImaichliulds akin( triitiway Iwtvecri 111)2,11 tricas amldial) ill

1 tali 1111,21-m:0i 211, iis nut ly, isir;.l \cil rmad t hit Ntictil). Itimn 110_,F.liway11;:i at a piiirit wait h .Nli.inticitIld and smith or1,:i inn, Tht, irocr,-;iiiiiitin is %, ell idurkiall)\ Church ItticlLai; him, raila SamIstumi0 1 HO) \vay 211

ward=dippiiii2 ship'. flit' Naailitithi did hid with a l'i't- hula its and patclics t }Hi 1i:w1t:Ha

sdch ChlIrch lark, 010 first tit Itsr,it

summits 3 miles west of Highway 163. The road crossesgentle valley in the Navajo Sandstone, reaches the second sum-mit about 1(1 miles from the highway, then descends steeiilythrough the Navajo Sandstone and part of the Kayenta Forthin to Indian Creek, 1' 2 miles below, and follows this creeknearly to The Needles. Half a mile down the canyon takes us tothe top of the cliff-forming Wingate Sandstone, and another half '.

mile brings us to Indian Creek State Park and its strikingNewspaper Hoek (fig. 5). Another I"A miles takes us to the base

the Wingate and top of the underlying Chin le Formation,which forms the red slope beneath the cliffs.

Historic Dugout Ranch (p. 14) is 10 miles west of the-,1ighway, and from here a dry-weather road leads southward up

Mirth Cottonwood Creek 37 miles to Beef Basin and connectswith roads to Elk Ridge and the Bears Ears, both just west ofthe A bajo Mountains, Just west of the ranch we get a good viewahead of two historic landmarksNorth and South Six- ShooterPeaks (fig, 3s), so named because of their resemblance to a pairof revolvers pointing skyward. The guns are sculptured fromslivers of 1A'ingate Sandstone resting upon conical mounds of theChin le. These can be seen from a wide area; both appear infigures 3S and 40, and the north one is seen in figure 77.

CHURCH ROCK, standing guard at the intersection of U.S, Highway 163 and/the eastend of Utah Highway 211 leading to the Needles district. Rock is Entrada Sandstone: redfoundation is Dewey Bridge Member; yellowish smooth rounded body of church is SlickRock Member; white steeple is Moab Member, La Sal Mountains at left (Fig. 37)

NORTH AND SOUTH SIX-SHOOTER PEAKS, looking west from entrance road to TheNeedles. (Fig. 3B)

t((' V.-1",,,S, it I II tl)\1,1 11;t(.1, "1 chink, n

(ho )2:1'n1'r;i11y red and-.h lir :tt Ihi t()1) u the 1()(911;()Iii Furnui-

n in thy ni-, h:111. :\11).:-4s tirzminin he1w:trio. ;trp:-,

At milcs )ilvi,tit IZ:tnch 1J(Nii1\ nlarkitlrf 11(91 111-1.c--:: I hi`..,f;'i 1-11:111i1 1()11(1\1:-',

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r, it Or!-:iii I 1:111 Imit 1,)) )))` Ihr Il11-11j.. lir )1 till t;

1 )1W-wIt r (1(i\, t111, riwk!! id !hi' 1;I1^ d-ii)111'. '1111'

\\ :;(11111 \1.1111'11 Ii,1111- ;l )1.1J111 11111(

!It' 111 II(' Si\ ;11111

111' (11I t'll I i \1 f:r11111 I IW riCt, Itphi ilt' 1'11(1, CH11111111 r;11111 1)\ 1.1.11 ;Ijili

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the thick Cedar,llesa Sandstone. 1.7,iisior. has reduced thegeneral level of the,tieedles district to or into the Cedar MesaSandstone, but ruany streaws have cut into the underlying RicoFormation, and the Colorado River has cut also into, and inplaces through, the limestones of the unnamed upper member ofthe Hermosa Formation. Our first view of The Needles isanother 1 miles, and 1 more mile takes us to the park boundary.nearly :32 miles from the U.S. Highway 163. We pass a road onthe right leading to Canyonlands Resort, and on the left is a newline camp which rephices t he restored one at Cave Spring (fig. (I).

The unusual features of the Needles district are due in somepart to the character and thickness of the unii_.;rlying rocks lintin large part to erosion along point ~anal faults. Joints are frac-t tires 'along which no displacement has taken place, and faultsare fractures along which there has been displacement of thetwo sides relative to one another (fig. 761 : The Cedar Mesa:--;iiildstone comprises 501) to 6011 feet or more of hard well-cc buff, white, and pink beds of massive sandstone.Wnthe basis of the type and amount of deformation and erosion of theCedar Mesa Sandstone and underlying rocks, the Needles dis-trict can he divided into three differing areas: (Ilan eastern area'here the rocks are relatively undeformed but are carved intoan intricate series of canyons, including Salt Canyon and the up-per reaches of Day's and Lavender Canyons the section of thedistrict that contains most of the arches and Indian ruins; (2)The Needles proper,. where tensional forces have cracked thebrittle Cedar Mesa ndstone into a crazy-quilt pattern cifsnuare to rectangular blinks separated by joints widened by ero-sion, creating a myriad of spires and pinnacles; and (3) TheCirahens, where the previously jointed rocks were later sub-jected to additional tensional forces that produced a series ofnearly parallel faults that trend northeastward and separatedowndropped blocks of rock, called grabens, from interveningsuit ionary or upthrown blocks of rock, called hoists.

Let us examine each of these areas in the order named. Fortrim\ cling to most features a four-wheel-drive vehicle is stronglyrecommended. Some visitors negotiate the jeep trails with dunebuggies or motorcycles, but four-wheel-drive vehicles are con-side safer and generally more reliable. A few trails can hetravri ed only on foot.

S111;t\V Hat, in the western part of the relatively undeformedarea, is a nearly flat area of low eda Mesa Sandstonecovered here and t here by a thin layer of sparsely vegetated soiland surrounded by generally low hilly erosional forms 94411e tip-per part of the sandstone. Short canyons and ale o(es in the

A

SQUAW FLAT CAMPGROUND, in the Needles district, in Cedar mesa Sandstone. Largepino.n And juniper trees draw ground water from this sandstone. (Fig. 39)

:tionV Slut )(lion! c)scrlirtil S1'1111-1)11o:ich ul which I-rds its mvitt picnic

=;11:111tiw11 1 +Ili ill thy Hicou .(I Ilir v:rtm-(11

(.,c11, ktivy 111,1 jutHricr !hitt pg()\-1(11,,,\ 010i

;11 isirii) I I

id I lw ruin), in I hi' irk ;iii S;111;t1Ii1 II, 111;1111 (.:1.111(111. ly ;iri. in ;Hi=

11;I.\ I, :111(i L1\111111.'1' .111.\ (1114. %ken'rt Is ;t1111\,(41 Hi 1111' 1;irk. cllNTH (mlJ:(1111,2, I IN.

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ics WLITN\1/4 lit 1'1`11;(1t 1\Liy,1, (11 Illt 1;1`11'11

The ma Isbuie beds of t :edar Mesa are composed

of sand grains cemented together by calcium carbonate (CaCOO,'

w high also for the mineral called calcite and the rock known_

as imestortc. Limestone and &alcite are soluble in acid, eveneak acid such as carbonic acid 111.1 '( t, formed by solution of

carbon dioxide 'O tin water. Ground water, found everywhere

in rock openings at differing depths beneath the surface, con-tains considerable dissolved carbon dioxide derived from Ncay-'ing organic matter in soil, from the atmosphek, and from othersources. Even rain water and snow contain small amounts cch-

sorbed from the atmosphere enough to dissolve small amountsof limestone or of calcite cement rn sandstone. The calcite ce-ment in the Cedar Mesa and many other sandstones is unevenly

distributed, so the cement is removed first from places that con-tain the least amounts, and once the cement is dissolved, theloose sand grains are car ried away by gravity, wind, or vater.Thus, relatively thin walls of sandstone containing irregulAydistributed patches of soluble cement are prime targets for thformation of potholes (fig. it l). alcoves, and caves, Once abreakthrough occurs, weakened chunks front the ceiling tend to

fall off; zind arches shares .1.1"e produced, her an

AERIAL VIEW EASTWARD ACROSS SALT CANtN, Note narrow walls and pinnacles

between canyons and alcoves. SixShooter Peaks are in left background. Photograph by

Wayne Alcorn, National Park Service_ (rig, 40)

arch is naturally the strongest form that can support the overly-ing rock load. Man,.from the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyp-tians to modern day, has long made use of arches in buildingbridges, !;aqueducts, temples, cathedrals, and other enduringedifices. Mt the spectacular arches we are about to see werecarved from the Cedar Mesa Sandstone. tLet us begin our tour of Salt and Horse Canyons by driving afour-wheel-ilrive vehicle eastward from the fine campground at.Squaw Flat. After about a mile we pass the Wooden Shoe (fig.41) capping a ridge south-td he highway; it contains one of thethe

smallest?Tches we will encou ter. Three quarters of to mile eastof the temlporary ranger statio__ we come to Cave Spring, an oldtket)restored c wboy line camp pictured in figure 6. This and an adja-cent cave .-ntaining a spring are part of the interesting \veil-marked Environmental Trail, well worth the half hour or so itrequires.The jeep trail up Salt Canyon lies mostly in the sandy bed ofSalt Creek bur includes a few shortcuts.across goosenecks andsome rougil rocky stretches around rapids or waterfalls. It isbest traveled when the canyon bottom is moist but not soaked.When the sand is soft and dry, a shift into four-wheel drive isgenerally necessary. Signs warn of quicksand, which occurswhen the sand is fully saturated; hence, summer thunder-showers sometimes require delaying or postponing the trip.

WOODEN SHOE, near temporary rangerCedar Mesa Sandstone. (Fig. 41) he Needles district. Carved in

When in doubt, consult a park ranger for expected weather andtrail conditions. 'Phundershowers sometimes occur so suddenlyand violently as to cause serious floods, and the "road" is closedw hen heavy ram is expected. Howe\ or, if an unexpected stormoccurs while you are up in the canyn, try to reach high groundand wait until the flood subsides. If you do not have time to getyour ve.hicle out of the flood's path. at least get yourself andpassengers to a ,,,r ,pot.

a half miles south of Cave Spring we reach the on-fluence with I lorse Canyon, marked by a sign at the Y giving

istances to points of interest up each canyon. Let us try Horsevon first. After about a mile we pass Paul Bunyans Potty on

the leftone of the most aptly titled features of the park (fig..13. Two wiles south of the Y is Keyhole Ruin, nestled in a cleftPAUL ByNYANS POTTY, on east wall of Horse Canyon_ (Fig_ 42)

high on the cliff to our lefta granary built by the Anasazi.Here we face another Y. The left fork leads half a mile east toTower Ruin (fig. 4), one of the largest and best preservedAnasazi granaries in the park. The right fork takes us on upHorse Canyon, and in about 2 miles we pass Gothic Arch on theright. In 2 more miles, 4 miles from Salt Canon, a short hike upthe tributary to the right leads to Castle Arch and ThirteenFaces, Assuming we have taken photographs of the importantfeatures along the way, it probably is about time to return tocamp at Squaw Flat, unless we choose to spend the night atPeek-a-boo Spring and primitive campground in Salt Canyon,about L2 miles above the confluence with Horse Canyon.

Another drive takes us up Salt Canyon SP:2 miles past the con-fluence with Horse Canyon to another confluence and Y, whichhas a primitive campsite without water. One mile up the left, orsoutheast, tributary is a parking area where we begin themile walk to Angel Arch, considered by many peopleto he themost beautiful and spectacular arch in the park if not in the en-

-ountry, Angel Arch was drawn for the front coverby John R. Stacy ,end is pictured in figure 43,

ANGEL ARCH, along tributary of -Salt Canyon. (Fig. 43)

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FISHEYE AHCH. arorw Jppir lt Canyon. lookinp, north, Ph graph by National Park(H. 1,11

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HOLT Liv,!ric!=r- Ciriyiiii. Noto I1II in ^,,vidstory! forried by coiution. Nitinudi P,Ifk Sk!rviLf] [F1

WEDDING RING Af CH, lion ipper S I yon. 1ph by IN iional Park Service

uLtr iakin,H. in upper Lavender C, nyon. looking north. Photograph by E. N. Hinrichs.IN, 47i

ARCH. In upper Davis Canyon, loolong northwest. Photograph by E. N. Hinrichs. (Fig. 48)

THE NEEDLES AND THE GRABENS.9

The northeastern edge of The Needles proper can he seen from -

Squaw Flat (fig. 49), but the true character of The Needles canhe appreciated better from the air (fig, 50). You cannot get farinto The Needles without traversing part of The Grabens, so wewill consider them together. An aerial

andview (fig. 51)

shows The Needles in the foreground and The Grabens in themiddle background. As shown on the map (fig. 1), you can hike

THE NEEDLES, looking southwest from Squaw Flat. (Fig. 49

CHESLER PARK IN THE NEEDLES, aerial view looking northeast. Photograph by WalterMeayers Edwards, 0 1971 National Geographic Society. (Fig. 50)

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into The Needles and The Grabens from Squaw Flat, frut let usMake the trip using a four-wheel-drive vehicle and severatshorthikes.

Ordinary passenger cars now can go P/4 miles west of SquawFlat to Soda Spring, at the east base of Elephant Hill, butbeyond Soda Spring four- wheel -drive vehicles should be used.Some people conquer the hill in dune buggies or on motorcycles,but this is cohsidereO quite dangerous. Both sides of this short(1! miles) but formidable hill have switchback carves too sharpto negotiate in the regular manner, so special driving techniquesmust be followed. On the east side, you must drive out on a flatrock, jockey back and forth until turned completely around, thenproceed up the hill. On the west side, you descend a 40,percentgrade to a shelf, buck down a narrow stretch of about 30-percent-grade and back sharply to the left onto a flat rock. en goforward again. On the eturn trip the whole procedure carriedout in reverse order.

West of Elephant Hil the road reaches a Y;at which youmusrturn left on a one-way mad; the right-hand road is for laterone-way return to the Y. Why the left-hand fork is one way soonbecomes-qm)parent, for the road leads into a narrow shallowgraben, called Devils Pocket (fiw 51), between rock wafts, and isbarely wide enough for one car. After about 2 miles the grabenwidens out into a beautiful spot called the Devils Kitchen, whichconlitins several picnic tables tucked into shady recesses in thesandstone walls. This is the starting point for two trails leadingsouthward by different routes to Chesler Park, frail whichother trails lead to Druid Arch or back to Squaw Flat.

From the Devils Kitchen, the 'road turns abruptly westwardfor about half a mile to another Y in about the middle of DevilsLane, oho of the larger grabens and one of two whose entirelength is traversed by roads, as shown on the map (fig. 1). Onlythe left fork is a two-way road, so let us take the left fork 2l4miles southwestward to the next road junction. About halfwaydown Devils Lane, a fault crossing the graben has created anarrow steep ridge appropriately called, SOB Hill. because theroad over it creates a challenge that some vehicles fail to meet onthe first attempt!

The next ad intersection is now showman the map (fig. 1) as...a sharp tut leading southwest to Ruin Park and Beef Basin.The abandon left fork (not shown) leads east into Chesler

< THE NEEDCES!,4ELErl'HE GRABENS, aerial oblique view looking.west over Chesler Park inforeground, The Grabens to the right, and Cataract Canyon behind, Photograph by U.S.Army Air Force, (Fig. 51)

75

Park. This p k, shown in figure 50 and near the bottom offigure 51, is beautiful natural meadow of several hundredacres fenced by a natural wall of needles and containing a cen-tral island of needles. Because of vehicular damage to meadowvegetation, the National Park Service found it necessary to closethe road. To reach Chesler Park now, vehicles must go right ashort distance to the Chesler Canyon turnoff, then left abouthalf a mile to a barking area From here, a 1/2-mke hike eastthrough the narrow Joint Trail gets us to the soitth side ofChester Park, where we join the abandoned rokd to reach thenortheast corner of the ,park and trails into The Needlesproper (fig. 1).

This change adds 13/4 miles (one way) to the hike to DruidArch, making the round trip about 11 miles. At the oldtrailhead, near the northeast corner of Chesler Park, is a signproclaiming the need for rubber soled shoes and water, and Istrongly support these admonitions, for much of the hike is onbare smooth sandstone and includes steep slopes and generallydry waterfalls. The hike should not be attempted by anyone notin good physical condition, and it should not be undertakenalone; two or more people should travel together.

As shown in figure 52, the trail to Druid Arch froni CheslerPark starts out on bare Cedar Sandstone marked by asuccession of rock cairns, two of Mitch are visibie and witholutwhich the trail would soon. be lost. The trail drops rapidly downinto Elephant Canyon, which is then followed southward 2 milesto the arch. This canyon ias cut through the Cedar Mesa into theunderlying Rico Formation; and much of the canyon is quitenarrow and steep sided, as showri in figure 53, Although much ofthe Rico consists of /led beds laid down-above sea level by ancientstreams, the trail crosses several thin beds of dark-gray hardlimestone containing fossil marine seashells and ancient seaanemones whose original calcium carbonate parts have beenlocally replaced by jasper (red iron-bearing silica). When at lastthe weary hiker makes the steep climb out of the canyon androunds the, final bare-rock curve, the sudden and striking view ofDruid Arch (fig. 54) seems worth every bit of the effortat least

was to me and my hiking,companion.After my friend and I hiked to Druid Arch and afterithe

length of this route was increased to a round-trip distance of111/2 miles, a- new route was constructed having a round-triplength of only 81/2 miles. This new trail starts at the end of the -

passenger-car road at the east edge of Elephant Hill, goes 11/4miles southwest- to join an older trail in -Elephant Canyon, thenfollows this canyon 3 miles south tothe- ch.

TRAIL TO DRUID ARCH, near its beginning at northeast corner of Chesler Park, markedonly by rock cairns, two of which are visible. (Fig. 52)

UPPER ELEPHANT CANYON, containing trail to Druid Arch. (Fig. 53)

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After returning to our vehicle west of Chesler Park andbacktracking over. SOB Hill to the intersection in the middle ofDevils Lane; let us proceed northward on a one-way road ter andbeyond the Silver Stairs for a closer look at Devils Lane andother grabens to the west and for a look at the confluence of theGreen and Colorado Rivers. But first let us pause and reflectupon the possible origin of The Grabens.

Geologists have different opinions as to just how grabens andcomplex systems of joints have fciPmed, but all seem to agreethat tensional forces were involved. Some think that solution ofsalt and gypsum from the Paradox Member of the Hermosa For-mation by ground-water movement allowed the brittle CedarMesa Sandstone and other overlying rocks to sag:producing ten-sion cracks and. faults. Others believe that removal of the saltand gypsum occurred by plastic flowag,e toward the Meander an-ticline, (see p. 10S and fig. 61), whose axis follows the Coloradoliver siuthwest from The Loop, past the conflue`oce, and to andhe and Spanish Bottom. Some suppose that compaction duo tothe weight of the abnormally thick pile of sedimentary rock un-derlying the area may have caused the sagging, cracking, andfaulting. The rock deformation may have resulted from azm-hination of these and possibly other things, of course, butwhatever the cause, the resulting features are very striking.There was room to show, only_ two of the named grabens withinthe park on the map (fig. 1), but all are shown in figure 51, andseveral appear in figure 59. 'A diagramatic cross section of atypical grahen is shoWn in figure 55. The tension faults shown infigures 55 and 56 are called normal faults, in contrast to faults-formed by horizontal compression, which are called reversefaults (figs. 75, 76).

The Grabens range irmidth from about 7 or S feet at the northend of Devils Pocket to nearly 2,000 feet at the south end of RedLake Canyon, but the average width is about 500 feet. The floorsof The Grabens are covered by soil and grass, but the displace-ment along the faults is believed to approximate the height ofthe wallsnearly 300 feet. That The Grabens are of fairly recentorigin is attested by the fact that most of the walls are verticalfault faces showing little sign of erosion (fig. 57); that no .

through drainage has yet been established in Cyclone Canyon,which is a series of basins with low divides between; and thatseveral pre-existing streams were interrupted or diverted Dry thefaulting,.

DRUID ARCH, from end of arduous trail shown in figures 52 and 53. (Fig. 54)

A SIMPLE GRABEN, formed by tensiog in directions indicated by horizontal arrows.Downdmpped central block is the graben; stationary or uplifted Mocks on sides ire calledhorsts. From Hansen (1969, p. 123). See also figure 76. (Fig, 55)

_ZUTAWAY VIEW OF, NORMAL FAULT, resulting from tension in and lengthening of thetuft a's crust..Note amount of displacement and repetition of strata Compare with figure76. From Hansen (1969, p. 116). (Fig. 56)

Now let us continue our journey northward along Devils Lane.Just before reaching the Silver Stairs we may wish to pause longenough to take in the distant view to the northwest toward Junc-tion Butte and Grand View Point. (See frontispiece.) Afterdescending the steep Silver Stairs in a narrow cleft between rockwalls, we reach another intersection: a twoLway road continuingnorthwest goes to our destination, and a one-way road turningright returns to Elephant Hill via part of Elephant Canyon (fig.5S).

About 2 miles to the northwest we cross the north end ofCyclone Canyon, the largest graben. It,contains a road 31/2 mileslong and is well worth seeing. About one-half mile from thesouth end, an old trail folloWs Red Lake and d Lower Red LakeCanyons to the Colorado River across from Spanish Bottom(figs. 1, 61).

From near the north end of Cyclone Canyon (figs. 1, 59), wedrive west three-fourths mile to a parking area and hike one-half

-mile to an overlook for a spectacular view of the confluence ofthe Green and Colorado Rivers (figs. 59, 60) and of the northern'partAf Cataract Canyon (fig. 61). These and other canyons arediscussed in the next chapter.

SO

WEST WALL OF CYCLONE CANYON GRABEN, &nearly vertical fault face showing littlesign of erosion. (Fig. 57)

LOWER ELEPHANT CANYON, followed by jeep trail from near Silver Stairs o ElephantHill. (Fig. 58)

THE.CONFLUENCE FROM THE AIR, and some of The Grabens. See also figure 51. Ver-tical aerial photograph by U.S. Geological Survey. (Fig. 59)

Att

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rHE CONFLANCE FROM OfFLUENCEOVERLOOK, shovin in figures 1 and 59, Green River entering from leftl Colorado River from right. Red beds near top ale

lice Formationi overlain by Cedar Mesa Sandstone and underlain by unnamed upper member of Hermosa formation. (Fig. 60)

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CATARACT CANYON, from the rim, looking south to Spanish Bottom at bend. Beck' dipto left and right away from Colorado River, which here is followed by axis of Meanderanticline. (See p, 108). Cliff below overhanging rock resembles profile of a man; the rockresembles his hat. Photograph by Walter Meayers Edwards, 1971 National GeographicSociety. (Fig. 61)

We have discussed two of the three major topographicdivisions of the parkthe high mesas and the benchlands-andthere remains to consider the third divisionthe canyons .of = emighty Green and Colorado Rivers and some of their tributarie_After we discuss a few featus common to both rivers, we wiltake up the details of each river.

A glance arthe map (fig. 1) shows that abovethe confluenceboth rivers -are fiery crooked and contain -mariy loops, ormeanders, the most striking of which are Bowknot Bend of theGreen River (fig. 62), severat miles north of the park, and TheLoop of the Colorado River (fig. 74). In contrast, the main stemof the Colorado- River below the Confluence is considerablyStraighter. Not apparent on the map are the facts that thecrooked rivers above the confluence have very, gentle grades andare free from rapids or falls, whereas a few miles south of theconfluence the main stem plunges into Cataract Canyonthesteepest and wildest reach of the river, containing 64 rapids.These differences are partly explicable on the basis of the,..geologic structure and character of the rocks through which therivers have cut Above the confluence, the soft strata dip gentlynorthward, so in flowing generally southward the two rivers arecutting "against the grain," which tends to impede their flowand thus reduce their grades. Below the confluence, the hardlimestones of the _Hermosa Formation lie relatively flat forseveral miles and then begin to dip gently southward, thusallowing the river to cut "with the grain" and therefore dropmore rapidly. \

The quiet, smooth waters above the confluence permitpower boating between the towns of Green River, Utah, andMoab during part of the year, whereas the rapids below SpanishBottom,.31/2. miles below the confluence, restrict river travel' tofloat trips using sturdy boats, or rafts.

1 85

Above the, confluence, a so-called 'Friendship Cruise is runeach year during the Memorial Day weekend. Participants towtheir own_ power boats on trailers to the town of Green River,and afteiVre boats are launched, facilities are available atnominal cost for transporting cars and boai trailers to Moab toawait the arrival of the boats. Although some high-poweredspeedboats are reported to have made the run down the GreenRiver to the confluence then up the Colorado River to Moab in afew hours, the trip for most boits requires 2 to 7 days.

Trips by power boats, including jet boats, can be arrangedfrom either Green River or Moab. Some passengers from Moabreturn by jeep from Lathrop Canyon via the White Rim Trail,and some from Green River return on land via the HorsethiefTrail. Many prefer the quieter float trip down to the confluence,with return to either town by a prescheduled power boat, andsome more adventurous souls float through the rapids ofCataract Canyon all the way to Lake Powell.

In the spring of 1972, a 93-foot 150-passenger stern-wheeler(fig. 69) began passenger service on the Colorado River from justabove Potash to the foot of Dead Horse Point and return(Lansford, 1972).

Entrenched and cutoff meandersMeanders such as those above the confluence generally are

formed by streams flowing in soft alluviu consisting of clay,silt, and sand, such as along the Mississippi River below Cairo,Ill. But there is no soft alluvium along the Colorado and GreenRivers, so how did these meanders form? They probably at-tained their serpentine shape while cutting in softer, youngermaterial, which long ago was removed by erosion, and then con-tinued to cut their crooked channels down, until they created thedeep rock-walled canyons in which they now flow as "en-trenched" meanders.

Meandering streams tend to shorten their lengths from timeto time by cutting through narrow walls between adjacent loops,leaving abandoned horseshoe-shaped channels or lakes. In mostof the United States these are known as oxbows or cutoffmeanders, but in the desert Southwest they are commonly calledby the. Spanish term "rincon." Cutoffs are common along softalluvial channel- as the lower Mississippi River valley butare rare along cinels whose meanders are entrenched intohard rock. Thus, there have been many natural (and severalmanmade) cutoffs along the lower Mississippi during historicttfltes, but The most recent ones along the Green and upper

86

Colorado Rivers probably occurred a million or so years ago,during the Pleistocene Epoch (figs. 65,.80).

Mark Twain served several years as arlexpert riverboat piloton the MiSsissippi River during which several cutoffs took place.

apter 27 bf his "Life on the Mississippi" contains sagereferences to both natural and artificial cutoffs and concludeswith a few good-natured jibes at geologists in particular andscientists in general:

Therefore the Mississippi be.tween Cairo and New Orleans was twelve hundredand fifteen miles long one hundred and seventy six,years ago. IL was eleven hun-dred and eighty after the cutoff of 1722 It was one thousand and forty after theAmerican Bend. cut-off. It has lost sixty-seven miles since. Consequently, itslengths is only nine hundred and seventy-three miles at present.

Now, if-I, wanted to be one of those ponderous scientific people, and "let on" toprove what had occurred in the remote past by what had occurred in a

givein the recent past, or what will occur in the far future by what has occurrilate years, what an opportunity _is here! Geology never had such a chance, norsuch exact data to argue froni! Nor "development of species,- either! Glacialepochs are great things, but they are .aguevague. Please observe:

In the spate of one hundred and seventy-six years the Lower Mississippi hasshortened itself two hundred and forty two miles, That is an average of a trifleover one mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blindor idiotic, can see that in the Old Oij litic Silurian Period, just a million years agonext November, the Lower Mississippi River was upward of one million threehundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishingrod. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-twoyears from now the Lower Mississippi will he only a mile and three-quarters

plodding comfortably along u der a single mayor and a mutual board of alder-long, and Cairo and New Orl7ns will have joined their streets together, and be

man. There is something fascinating about science: One gets such wholesalereturns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

Green RiverMuch more has been written about tee Green River and the

main stem, of the Colorado than about the Colorado above theconfluence (the former Grand River), because all but one of theearly float trips began on the green. The first reports concerning Powell's memorable voyages of 1869 and 1871 were his ar-ticles published in Scribners Monthly during 1874 and 1875followed by his formal 1875 report "Exploration of the ColoradoRiver of the West and Its Tributaries." As pointed out by 'Porter

.11969, p. 211, however, Powell's narrativeis 'written (is .everything chronicled therein (a cur_retl during t14 first trip.Events which actually occurred in 1571 and 157?-.-"are reported as happening in1569 There is no mention of the personnel of the 1571-72 party, nor is there anindication that there even ''us a second trip. The engravings illustrating thereport were made from photographs taken by Ruanian and I Idlers between 1571and 1571, but this fact is not noted.

87

.

For these reasons, Porter's account contains Pciivell's diary-ofthe first (1869) trip, and many of the missing photographs, plushis 9,wn beautiful color prints. Much more complete. and ac-curate accounts of the 1871 vOyage than these of Powell, in-e?pding many of the photographs taken by Beaman and Hillers,were given by Dellepbaugh (1902, 1962), who was a member ofPowell's 1871 expedition.

Numerous river trips were undertaken in the years following.Powers pioneering expeditions. The ill-fated Brown-Stanton;voyage of 1889-90 included starts on both the Grand and theGreen Rivers. (See section on t'Colorado Rive. ") More successfulwere Nathan Galloway and William Richmond, trappers wholeft Henry6 Fork, Wyo., late in. 1896 and reached Needles, Calif.,on February 10, 1897 (Kolb, 1927, p. 338). Trappers Charles S.Russell, E R. Monette, and Bert Doper left Green River, Utah, intlitte steel boats on September 20, 1907; Russell and Monettereached Needles in ,one boat in February d908, but Loper wasdrowned. Dellenbaugh's 1902 book was carried by the Kolbbrothers as a guide for their 1911 trip down the river (Kolb,1927). In addition to making superb still photographs; the Kolbbrothers took the first moving pictures in the canyons, and theseare still being shown inThe Kolb Studio on the South Rim of theGrand Cany-on. Julius F. Stone and party traversed the canywasin 1909, and his account ( 632) also contains excellent,-photographs. E. C. LaRue, of the U.S. Geological Survey, andassistants made two trips down the Green and Colorado Riversin' 1914 and 1915 and additional trips from 1921 through 1924.Their comprehensive hydroraphic findings and studies, plus ex-cellent photographs, are given in two reports (La Rue, .1918:1925). The 1916 report also contains (p, 16,22) a good condensedaccount of earlier explorations. and voyages from 1531 through1911, taken in part frock Dellenbaugh (1902).

As noted earlier, a modern river runners' guide by Mutschlerep(1969), which logs the Green and Colorado 1,rs from GreenRiver, Utah, to Lake Powell, is now availab e. River mileages inthis log were taken from detailed topographic maps of bothrivers prepared under the direction of Herron (1917). We will

notonly a few not _le features of the canyons; the mile-by-miledytails for the G een River can be obtained from Mutschler(1969), and thos for the Colorado River, froin Baars andMolenaar (1971, . 61-99). Several other references are given

-,,below, and additional ones are given by Rabbitt (1969, p. 20-21).All travelers down the Green River embarking from Green

River, Utah, or above, were impressed with Bowknot Bend (fig.62), so named by Powell and his men (1875, p. 54) near the begin-

88

9 5

ning of Labyrinth Canyon; whiEh they also named for its deeplyentrenched meanders. The upper p kraph in -figure 62 was,taken by Beaman on September 10 71, looking eastward fromthe west end of the narrow sad e separating the upper -and,-lower reaches-of the river; the 10- er photograph was taken fromthe-Satne point on August 19, , by Hal G. Stephens nearly 97years later. Although there changes in the vegetatiOn, asdescribed in the caption, the are virtually no visible changes inthe bedrock. Nevertheless he distant future will likely see abreakthrough, Whereby G =en River will shorten itself by about7 mile-s (Herron,1917,-p1, 15C). It is interesting to note that thevertical cliffs of Wingate Sandstone in and west Of BowknotBend are only 'a few /hundred feet above the river, wheereas,because of the gentlenorthward dip of the beds'and the gentlesocithward grade of -the rivers, the Wingate 'cliffs are more than2,000 feet above the two rivers.at Grand View Point and Junc-tion Butte; at the ,southern tip Of Island in the Sky.

At the mouth /of Horseshoe Canyon,- about 3 miles belowBowknot Behd, We pass. a large rincon where the Grer River

,shortened its course by about 3 miles_ Some idea of the rincon'sSaiquity is gained froth the'facts that the river is now some 350feet lower than at cutoff time, Whoreds B-owkriot Bend (fig. 62)has shoWn nO visible deepening in -97 years. This rincon was notnotect by Powell or other early voyagers ,seernirig12,- because theydid nbt,happen to climb the banks ea. is %int but it is _quite .noticeable on modern topograPh c maps and on aerialphotographs. This_ rineen.and Jackson Hole along the ColoradoRiver may be as old as late Tertiary (fig. SO).

At a point reported to be 350 yards above the mouth of Hell*-Roaring Canyon, which enters from the east about 31/2 Milesbelolv /the rincon, an early day trapperjnamed Julieh left hisraark.(Stone (11i3.. 2, p: 69, -pl. 39A) seems to have been the firSi

hriner to find (fram a description given him by a'Mr_Wheeler at Green River); record, arid plgtograph the inscriptionshown_-in fig..ur-c163. l'qtschler (1969, p. 3t) inOicated that this in- _

scription is earVed on a massive Moenkopi sandstone bed about ,-lit feet abbveth -canyon flodr. A similar inscription by Julien

is found in Cataract Canyon-, 31 miles below the confluence,but it is noWlcovered by 'Lake Powell (Mutschier 1969, p. 65).

-,-:- So -, boaterS,.are net by ,car and taken out to Mcfab or CreenR1 r 1,-ia tfif Horsethief Trail (fig. 1), just north of the park The

art along tlie river here continues south for 6' :2 miles to themouths of/Taylor and Uphe.val Canyons, wheN it 'becomes the- ,

White RiaCTrail.'- , .- Q

INSCRIPTION BY JULIEN, near mouth of Nell Rn ring Canyon-, thought to have beencarved by Dennis Julien, an early day trapper. Photograph by K. Sawyer, August 1914,member of expedition led by E. C. La Rue (1416). (Fig. 63)

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I!111111 if \\.;.1Irl Ills I11 l =Lan11 in tht Sky. \t. tk).-t) (IL\t,T4. 1 fr[11(.(1

\ Holt [11111., r1 ht.;,,;t1 ';.tn\ i ;tu IntTt. tm.r. ruinhill in ;t Inn(! (.)1.1111' 1.11'1'

(.1wIN,II1^21.1''.11'1 H1,11(1111 1111, k\ I h (,P/(r2T

1,1 trip ;Intl Vs 1(.1.1-il)t.(1 in !nun. &tail Iv

Fort Bottom also contains a cabin believed to have been used byButch (as.sidy and the Wild Bunch (Baker, 1971, p. 198).

At about. the mouth of Millard Canyon, we leave LabyrinthCanyon and enter Stillwater Canyon, aptly named by membersof the ISti9 Powell voyage Ifellenhaugh, 1902, p. 276). The begin --tting of Stillwater Canyon is marked by vertical walls of theWhite Rim Sandstone, From here Powell's men observed a buttetts the southwest thought to resemble a fallen cross and named it"Butte of the Cross." Farther downstretam they realized theyhad beot looking at two buttes, a small one in front of a largerone, so the feature was renamed "Bu ,jtes of the Cross." An aerialview of Buttes of the Cross is shown in figure 1i-1.

BUTTES OF THE CROSS, looking, southwest from the air. Millard Canyon enters GreenRiver in foreground, North Point is in right middle ground, Orange Cliffs are inbackground, and Henry Mountains form tight skyline. White Rim Sandstone forms WhiteRim near mouth of Millard Canyon and drat Anderson Bottom at left middle. (See fig.65.) Buttes are Wingate Sandstone capped by ft yenta Formation; slopes down to promi-nent ledge are Chinle Formation, Moss Back Member forming the ledge; steep and gen-tie slopes between ledge and White Rim are Moenkopi Formation. Photograph byNational Park Service. (Fig. 64)

About 2 pules below the mouth of Millard Canyon, at Ander-son 'Bottom, we reach one of the most interesting features on theriverthe most recent rincon of a majoi. river in the park, if notin the entire canyon country. Although some rincons are morerecent, they are along minor tributaries such as Indian Creek(fig. 73). The cutoff at Anderson Bottom probably took place '.during the Pleistocene Epoch, whereas most of'the others alongthe main rivers probably occurred during the Tertiary Period(fig. 80). An aerial view of the Anderson Bottom rincon is shown'in figure 65, and a sketch of the drainage change is show intfigure 66. This feature was noted and correctly interpreted byPowell and his men, who applied the name lonita Bend to thesharp new course the river took after the cutoff.

Continuing through Stillwater Canyon, we pass Turks Head(figs. 23, 24) and head for the confluence of e Green River with-the Colorado River. Figure 67 shows the ca- yon just west of the

z confluence. The lowest and largest cliff above the river is the up-per member of the Hermosa Formation, overlain by the slopesand thin ledges of the .Rico Formation. The massive sandstone atthe top of the canyon wall is the Cedar Mesa. Junction Butte andGrand View Point are on the right skyline.

We, have already viewed the confluence and Cataract Canyonfrom the land and from the air (figs. 59-61); soon we will seethem from the Colorado River.

00

93

ANDERSON BOTTOM RINGON, aerial\kiiew looking southeast. jointed White RimSandstone forms the clifflike canyon ivallsnd the mesa in middle Qt Anderson Bottom.Green River is now about 60 feet lower than former channel at right. hotograph byNational Park Service. (Fig. 65)

DRAINAGE CHANGES AT ANDERSON BOTTOM BINCON. River shortened itself about 2miles by this cutoff. (Fig. 66)

EXPLANATION

Present channel

Former channel

5

Co loractO RiverAS indicated earlier, all but one of the early river voyages

began on the Green River. The Grand (Colorado) River above theconfluence was neglected for some 18 years after Powell's secondvoyage, until, in 1889, Frank M. Brown organized a company forconstruction of the proposed Denver, Colorado Canyon, andPacific Railway. This railroad was to carry coal frbm mines inColorado over a "water-level" line through the canyons of theColorado River to the Gulf of California some 1,200 miles aeay;from there the coal would presumably be shipped to ports 0 farnorth as San Francisco (Dellenbaugh, 1902, p. 343-369). OnMarch 26, 1889, Brown% preside6_ F. C. Kendrick, chiefengineer: and T. P. Rigney, assists.' engineer, drove the firststake for a survey of the new line at Grand Junction, Colo., thenBrown left for the East to obtain financing_ ,4ind the other twoplus some hired hands took off down the Grand River. Afterreaching the confluence they towed the boat up OA Green River,thus becoming the first to make this trip upstream. They arlyran out-of food, but thanks to the hospitality of some cattl men,they replenished their stock and after about 9 days reache the.railrohd at Greeri River, Utah. Brown, who had returned frthe .East, his newly appointed chief engineer, -Robert BrewstekStanton, and 14 others in six ill designed boats of cedar, ratherthan oak, left Green River on May 25, 1889. Against the advice ofMajor Powell and A. H. Thompson, Powell's topographer on thel1871 trip, they carried no life preservers. After many mishaps,Brown and two others were drowned near the head of MarbleCanyon, and the ill-fated expedition was temporarily halted.However, the indefatigable Stanton contracted for new boatsbuilfof oak and, with a reorganized party of 12, left the mouth ofthe Fremont (Dirt.- Devil.) River on November 25. After manyfurther mishaps, the party finally reached the Gulf of Californiaon April 9 1890. Needless to say the proposed,pilway as notbuilt.

Althoug the .Colorado River enters Canyonlands NationalPark aboO '3 river piles below Moab, most boaters or floatersbegin their voyage either ?t Moab or near Potash, and mosttraveltrs of the White Rirn`Trail begin at Moab, so we will startour trip at Moab. No logs or river runners' guides are availableas yet for the reach from Moab to Potash, but below Potashsome details of the .geology ha4ve been described by Baars inBaars and Molemi,ar-(1971, p. 59-87). ,

As noted at the, beginning of this chapter, above the con-fluence bothi the Green and Colorado Rivers are very crooked,

96

7C

have very low grades, and are 'free from rapids, As with theGreen, the soft rocks Along the Colorado have a generally low

_rthward_ dip that pai-tly explains the river's gentle gra4e. andits southward flow through increasingly lower and older strata.Unlike the: Green, however, the gentle dips of the strata in the

',canyons of thel Colorado are interrupted by several gentle antic1inal (fig. 14) and synclinal (fig. 26) folds and by at least onefziult. The most important these geologic structures and otherfeatures will be noted as w_ 'ourgey down the river.

The first -14 'miles from Ma Valley to Potash can be madeeither by river or by paved Utah Highway 279. This highwayleaves U.S. Highwv 163 near the uranium ore-reduction plantseveral miles northwest oMoab, leaves Moab Valley throughThe Portal (fig. 6S), and follows the west bank of the river.paved secondary road from Moab follows the east bank of theriver through The Portal and tI brric,g Kings Bottom, NO; re ..crosses the Kings Bottom syncline, ,to the mouth of vaneSprings Canyon, th, becomes a ,gravel road that ascends thiscanyon southward to and beyond Hurrah Pass (fig. 30). High

e this road north of Kings Bottum are petroglyphs and a fewcliff dwellings in the vertical cliffs of Wingate Sandstone. Aranch "house" at Kings Bottom has been excavated entirelyNitothe Wingate cliff. Convenient-turnouts have been provided atseveral places along Highway 279 for viewing petroglyphs orother points of interest. Small viewing tubes welded to vertical

1 posts having signs help visitors locate and see the featuresdescribed.

THE PORTAL, in south wall of Moab Valley, through which the Colorado Rider, UtahHighway 279 (on right), and a paved secondary road (on kift) leave the valley to enterthe canyons in'and above Canyonlan4s National Park. Rounded remnants on top areNavajo Sindstone; cliffs are Kayenta Formation and Wingate Sandstone; red slopes areMille and Moenkopi Formations, and perhaps a little of the Cutler Formation at thebase. Light-colored patches at base of slope behind trees on left are contorted intrusionsof Paradox Member of Hermosa Formation. (Fig. 68).

T141(ings Bottom syncline (fig. 30) uthwest of Moab Valleybrings the Navajo Sandstone down to d slightly below waterlevel, whereas it, The Portal '(fig. 68) the Navajo caps thesouthwestrwall of Moab Valley. Several anticlines at or near theriver frbm Potash to and beyond the confluence (fig. 1) bring upstrata as old as the Rico or the unnamed upper member of theHermosa. Between these extremes, much oT the river's cotirselies in strata of the Cutl6r Formatlir

About 7 miles below The Portal, Highway 2791s joined on theright by a branch line of the Denver and Rio Grand WesternRailroad completed in 1962 to haul potash 36 miles" from Themine at Potash north to the main line at Grescent Junction. Therailroad emerges from a tunnel at the 'head of' Boopegger Can-yon. Two natural arches nea' the mouth of the tunnelPinto .

and Little Rainbow Bridgecan be. reached ,by trail. Aboutmiles farthr down the Colorado iqa temporary dock from whitjet boats and the Canyon Kihg, a 93-foot 150-passengerstern-wheeler, take off for points downriver during the springand early summer, whep water depth permits. The Canyon King(fig. 69), a small repliA of a Mississippi River stern-wheeler,carries passengers about 30 miles downriver to the foot of DeadHorse Point and returns (Lansford, 1972);

About 12 mites below The Portal we reach Potashthe potash"mi,ne" (fig. 70) of Texas Gulf, Inc. (See fig. 31 and its associatedtext for descriptie of operation!) Travelers down the jeep trailbelow Potash pass the evapor'ation ponds (fig. 71') used _to

separate the potash from common (alt.THE CA/OVA/KING; 4 93-fOot 150-passenger stern-wheeler which ha411 passengerssome 30 miles below Potash and returns. Trips run during the spring and early summer,when water depth Permits. Photograph by Henry Lansford, Boulder, C (Fig. 69)

Across the _r east from Potash is Jacksonilore, a large rin-,con. Since lonment,"Nfhleh-shorht;ned the'river by aboutmiles, the' ver has cut its channel .nearly 200 feet deeperilt isrunt tar in size-to the large rincon along GreenBowknot B 90) but pr Obal* rs somewhat younger. Bothrincons may he tm'-- old as W-6 Tertiary (fig.. SO). 'Just belovPotash its crosis the axis of-1-1e hugfi Cane Creek anticline (fig.31) and Also leave Grand County to. enter San Juan-County. Amile east of this point, .high

which ha's yielded considerable oreanti is expected to -resume production sometime during 1973. Itcan be seen from the river or the trail, and sonic of 'the tailingsare visible on the left flank of the anticline in figure 13.

Voyagers \yin( cross the of the Cane Creek anticline mayobserve on the light-hand (west) bank a protruding oil-well-cas-ing, some drill bits, and several shacksahl that remain of he

i'anke.,-,.._kh-afer No. 1 oil' test started during the winter of 1924-25and comfitrted by the Midwest Exploration Co. (Baker, 1933, p.S1 As described by Maxine Newell Natl. Park Service,written commun., 1970),The well Hew in in Heet,mher 1925. caught fiTe and ttpowed l tinting nil :OR) feetinto the air. " ' The local 'Brett-Intlepentlent new,qtatter called it "MotherNaturelt-; rhrkt Inas Gift to Grand rountr:: The gutther hurried down the rig, attargy of t:otioni,tnt. a,,tottk three month tit get it untler tatarttl, Then itdalnit product,.

Various 1925 and 1 issues of the Iotrb Times - independentreported that despite Many efforts to plug the \veil, it continuedto flow from 1,000 to several thousand barrels of oil per day for (Imonths or more, all of which floated, clown the river. The lastblowout occurred in 19;17, after which the well was plugged withan itilditional 1SO tons or cement.

N1rs. Newell added,

iir rly=dav c,:plormion arc oullo,r x teal it I kht col Equip-niont anti .nntntlAr, Writ' hargol larva the roloratItt tin er Moab

riattithtt HI:USTI:Lk ter n' i'arr111 to team 'and vital liVr the11 \ HIC1 utntlrl tail e itf rig tonhor:,. and Ho a lot of Itonhr onthorn I the , could take Hom feet 1. then weld girt, them :t start tt ith a crowbar:ti-td the mule; vtglik1 nag all the war th)w -611 to the will When tiw,'d gel therpthat hod a loth, trouble :lopping sonoolti Hwy would torn into the lank un-lod. I Intl put the double tret, on one mat ride the other, and head haek-Ittrmitt Riad id i'41;

The evaporation ponds shown in figures and 71 are litShafer Basin, a synclinal basin separating the t. ant' Creek an-ticline and_Shafer dome. We cross the axis of Shafer 117rFtu about2 miles-1)Am- the county lino

Further downs m is Shafer durrte, a closed anticlinal bulgeJust beyond the \\"-shaped bend in the rfter as shown in figure29. Parts of the dorne'also show up in the lower right of figure .1.3and the lower li.:)ft of figure From almost anywhere in the(;Dose Neck, the Sharp bend of the river shown in figure wepct an ex heat view of Dead Horse Point some 2,001) feet above.

Robert Iti,r3Vvrman (oral continua. Feb. 27, 197:3) described tome a small Cietrified forestwhich he sdid resembleg a logiamin the eastern part of 'the Shafer dome, at milOage 39

artel Molenaar, 1971, p. (35), north of this point abouthalf way between the river and the Jeep trail below Dead HorsePoint. Ile estimated that there probably are 2)) to :30 logs, somef which are as large as 1 'incites in diameter aial more than 20,

feet long, and also described a stump about :3 feet in diameter.They occur in red beds at about the middle of the Rico Formation, hence could be either Pennsylvanian or Permian in age

sft 'he orivinai hats been re phicof by silica I(

)ind stztined a (1)irk reddish brown, as shown in figure 72Mr. Norman and his+i'rother also discovered many teet1

pritititive sharklike fish in the Rico Formation at the Salliegeneral locality as the petrified wood and also in the Rica on theCane ('reek anticline. I :;t1Innitted two of the teeth to Dr. David11. Hiinde, curator Art' the Cleveland Museum of Natural,

\vho reuorted,fhem to be one tootNof the cochliodont'shark' lh and line tooth of the petalodonl 'shark'P, (written coin-mutt, Alay 22, 1973d

About 1 n-Cile; below- the. Goose Neck, we enter nyonlandsNat unuil Park and renuon in t he fNirk ;tIniust to the north end ofLakc

About miles inter the tack, at the north end of re bend muchlike the' (+oose Neel., is the mouth of Lathrop Canyon, wheremany mater s stop for lunch and where a side road connects withthe White Pim Trailing. 1).

Six and one half -ides below 1,;athroP Cany-on is the mouth ofRustler Canyon. which 's joined` near its mouth by IndianCreek the creek follow( I by the highway' leading ter TheNeedles from HS. 16:`1. Within an airline distance of only :1

reach of Indian Creek, an intermittent stream,flows past four small rincons, three of which (fig. 7:1i are withinen ;ei! (ills distance of only (1.S mile. The stream has cut its new

channel into the red sandstones and shale's of the Cutler Forma-tion only IT to 2)) feet deeper than the abandoned ones in the tworincons the left in figure 7:1 and only about 25 feet deeper thanthe one nrr t he right . These figures suggest, at least to me, thatthese cutoffs probably occurred sometime during the 11010conc

101

MIL!:

KIL,-,),AFftR5

RELATIVELY RECENT RINCONS'AtUNG INDIAN CREEK, about 3 miles ahove mouthand about 7 east of Canyonlands National Park. Above, stereoscopic pair of aerialphotographs by US. Geological Shrvey,telow, sketch showing drainage changes. Thestereoscopic per can he viewed without optical aids by those accustomed to thisprocpdure, or by use of a simple. Pouble-)err , stereoscope. (Fig. 73)

111;',

Epoch, or age of manthat is, probrrlIt within 'the last 10,000yedes (fig. SO). A detailed study of they -incons might changethis estimate, particularly if say, buried d iftwOod or other car-bonaceous material could he found ftrr trrf,age determination bythe radiocarbon method.

About 5 Miles below the mouth of Rustler Canyon and Indian(reek., and also about 5i,miles .rho `e the confluence, is TI1Loopan even sharper and more syrrt letrical figure eight than

-i-lowknot Bend of the Green River (fig. t ?). An aerial view of TheLilop Ifig. 74) shows that the channels o-.--the south loop are only

,aliout 500 feet apart and that those on the north loop are onlyabut 1,700 feet apart. At the narrowest ptces, both saddles areconsiderably erodedthe souihernitime is only about 150 feetabove the river, but the northern one is still about 350 feetabove. Erosion of both saddles has been hastened by the factsthat the axis. of the 111candi7r anticline (ke p. 11-)8) passes througheach s,4ddle and that an interesting reverse fault (fig. 75 passesthrough the loi'ver and thinner southern saddle. The differtincesbetween reverse and normal faults are shown by comparingfigures 56 and 7b It seems i-noviuthle that some day the small

THE LOOP, of Colorado River, about 5 miles northeast of the confluence. Lower canyonwails are unnamed uppermember of Hermosa Formation overlain by slopes of the RicoFor ation . Jointed sandy ledges at top become sandier to south, Mitre they compriseth Cedar Mesa Sandstony. Aerial photograph/by U.S. Geological Survey. (Fig. 74)

REVERSE FAULT in southem saddle df The Loop, looking no0hwest from boat in river. Ap-parent acaRle of dip is 12 below horizontal, Rocks at left above fault plane, have been shoved

about 10 feet post "no over those on right. Curving of dark bed near middle of faultolive rs called -drag,- (See fig, 76,f Rocks ore unnamed upper member of Hermosa For,motion, /51

(U AW A f" V TV,' OF RFVFPSE FAULT, resuitAmi from honzontol compression, which

111',g_*(1 taua,rterrT ot ootiti"'s crust_ Note "drag- of beds on each side of fault plane, Low-

Iniuu rovorsr-st 4uct thrust ',tuns. moy hve displacements ranging from a few feettr) 1rom-Kinsun (1969. 0. 116F (frig. 761

saddle will he cut through by the Colorado River, and a new rtn-con will result. Eventually, the other loop also probably will heabandoned. As one of my colleagues remarked, how wonderful itwould seem, to be present at the proper moment to witness suchan event, .particularly if one had a time-lapse movie camera Torecord it fOr posterity!

About a mile and a half below the south saddle of The Loop wemeet the mouth of Salt(Creek, which drains a large part of theNeedles district. Figure 77 was taken in Salt Creek canyonabout '...)1.4irlin9 miles above the mouth looking southeast towardSix-ShooteT-Peaks and Shal Mountain, northernmostaof theAbajo Mountains, on the hozon.

A mile and a half abOve the confluence is The Slide, a jumbled7mass of ar4tular blocks of rock that fell from the northwest can- ,

yon wall and .originally probably extended ail the way to thesoutheast bank of the river. As shown in figure 78, it still ex-tends nearly across the river, leaving only a narrow deep chutealong the southeast hank. Just after the photograph was taken,we hit rough fast water in the chute, with waves about '2 feelhigh. At higher stages of the river, progressively more of TheSlide is covered by water, and there is less tendency for waves toform. The (late of this landslide is not known, but it is shown opa map by Herron (1917, pl. 22A) made prior to 1917 and may wellhave occurred during prehistoric times.

Soon we reach the confluence of the 'Green and ColoradoRivers (figs. 59, 60). This important Junction- of two mightyrivers was noted by all previous voyagers, but their impressionsof it differed considerably. Powell (1875, p. 56) remarked:the streams unity in solemn depths, more than one thousand two hundred feetbelow the general surface of the country. The walls of the lower end of StillwaterCaF601 are core beautifully curved, lsee fig. 671, as the river sweeps in itsmeandering course, The lower end of the carrion through which the Grand comesdown, is also regular, but much more direct, and we look up this stream, and optinto the country beyond, and obtain glimpses of snow clad peaks, the summits of,-a croon of mountains known. as the Sierra La Sal I La Sal Mountains', Down theColorado, the canon walls are much broken.

Dellenbaugh (1902, p. 2711 gave a full(:_ scrbtOionmt ion-eluded: In every way the Junction is a desolate filace"an ap-praisal with which I disagree. The most colorful account I haveread is that of Captain Francis Marion Bishop, a member ofPowell's 1871 expedition, who recorded in his journal forSeptember 15, 1871 (1947, p, 202):

wen, we ire at last, after many days of toil and lablop, here at the confluencethe two great arteries of this great mountain desert. No more shall our frailmats dash through the turbid waters, Old Green, and no more shall we press onto sec the dark flood front the peaks and parks of Colorado, Grand and Green .

hells sink to thy rest, and from thy grace the ( 'i / +rrnrlrr de Vorjuir shall flow onftrever, and on thy bosom henceforth will we battle'witti rock and wave. Onecan hardly tell which is the largest of the two rivers. Neither seems to flow intothe other. but there seems to be a blending of both, and from their union rolls theI 'olorado River.

Cataract Canyon heads at the confluence, but the rapids donot appear until we leave,*anish Bottom some 31/2 miles below.Between The Loop and Spanish Bottom, the Colorado Riverfollows closetly the axis of an anticline. Along this reach the rockstrata- dip. down ward away .f rom the_river,- as shown in figure -a:ThiS fold was noted by Powe I and some of his men, and Bishop' ,

11947, p, 2031 reported in his journal for September 1q 1871:Ile I Steward I is at a loss how to account fclithe folded appearance of4he strata

here. Rut doubtless will finiirneexplanation. Says the dip recedes front theriver.canon, and think; it a fistmre. Nlan Powell! thinks it is owing to an up.'heat/ al, and that the beds next to the river have broken up front the mass, etc.,etc:

Forty-Nur years later Harrison (1927) named this structure theMeander anticline and concluded that the weight of the rocks oneach side of the river had squeezed underlying beds of salt. ii- theParadox Member of the Hermosa Formation and ca,Qed th(_:_i tomove upward along the river, where the confining str-W hadbeen removed by erosion. Harrison's theory was accepted by

_Baker (1133) and most ter workers in the area. Thus we havewhat may be, termed an _Tosional.anticiine, whose axis, or crest,follows the river, -_Fo_s'onal anticlines also occur elsewhere, asalong the Eagle and Roaring Fork valleys of central Colorado.Mutschler and Hite (1969) suggested that this zope of weaknessin Canyonlands overlies and follows a break in the hard Preeam-Brian (fig. 801 rocksihat linder.lie the area at great depth. At al yrate, Powell was on the right track even though he was totallyunaware of the underlying, salt or the_deep-seated fault.

Smooth water continues from the confluence to Spanish Bot-tom, where the Old Spanish Trail comes down to the river fromthe west and continues up Lower Red Lake Canyon to the east. +-As mentioned earlier, this is about the south end of the Meanderanticline, and an intruded chunk of the Farad x Member, Mostlygypsum, occupies part of the mouth of Lower i'l Lake.Canyon,as shown in figure 79, ..

The remaining 10 miles or so of Cataract ti!'anyon WithinCanyonlands National Park contains many r4)idS and shoOld betraversed only under the leadership of experienced river girides.

k_If and when Lake Powell reaches its maximum level, it w II ex-tend to within about a mile of the park, buCat present (1.731 itheads near the mouth of Gypsum Canyon, ahout 5 miles below

t the park.-

115

,4tCrae---

GYPSUM PLUG of Paradox Member, intruded along south end of Meander anticline at[-hot& of Lower Red Lake Canyon. Common salt has been 'emoved by solution. leavingreradoe at gypsum and some shale. Photograph by Donald L. Baars. (Fig. 791

GEOLOGIC; TIME SPIRAL, showtn- the sequencm,- names, and ages of theVologic etas, r--,

0,,,,d, and epoch., and the ovOlu on of plant and ammonite on land and inthe sea, Theprimihyn ,mirnjls that evolved in,tfbc sea during the vast Precambrian Era left few tracesin the rocks because they harl,,notslaygloped hard parts such as shells, but hard sheds orskeletal parts hecarne abundafiL during and after the Paleozoic Era, t Fig. 80)

110

3

,MISSISSIPPIAN

PERIOD

tr,,

!0e PI! istocene

fpoc h

II=Y=Y

PERIODRNA

1/ g

Having finished our geologic ramble through canyonlxidsNational Park, let us see how this pile of eroded rocks fit into thebigger scheme of things the geologic age and events of, theearth as a whole, as depicted in figure 80. As shown in figure 9,the rock strata still preserved in th'e park range in age fromPennsylvanian to Jurassic, or from about 300 to 175 millionyears ago, a span of about 125 million years. This seems an in-credibl ' long time, until you note that the earth is some 4.5billion jars old and that our rock pile is but one twenty fifth,or 4 percent, of the age of the earth as a whole. Thus, in figitte 80the rocks exposed in the park occupy only about the left-handthird of the atop whorl of the spiral.

But this is not the whole story. As indicated earlier, about,10,000 feet of yqunger Mesozoic and Tertiary rocks that oncecovered the areal-lave been carried away -by erosion, and if we inelude these, the span is increased to about 2W million years, ornearly a full whorl of the spiral,

Deep tests for oil and gas tell us that much older rocks un-derlie the area, and we have seen that some of these rocks playeda part in the park we see-todaynote the breaks in thedeep-segted Precambrian rocks and the salt in the ParadoxMember. In addition to the Precambrian igneous andmetamorphic rocks, there are about 2,000 feet of Paleozoic sed-imentary rocks- older than the Pennsylvanian Paradox Member.Most of these sedimentary rocks were laid down in ancient seasduring Cambrian, ,Ordovician, Devonian, Mississippian, andPennsylvanian times (fig. 80). There are some gaps in the rockrecord caused by temporary emergence of the land above sealevel and erosion of the land surface before the land again sub-sided below sea level so that deposition could resume. Silurian ..

rocks are absent altogether, presumably because here theSilurian Period was dominated by erosion rather than deposi-tion.

112

/, -

While Pennsylvanian and Peru? an sediments were beingdeposited in and -southWest of the park, a arge /rea to thenortheast called ,by geologists the Uncom hgre highland,because it occupied the same general area as the- -sent Uncom-pahgre' Plateaurose slowly above sea level. WhateverPaleozoi rocks the Were on this rising land, phis hart of theunderlyip Precambrian rocks, were eroded and carried bystreams i to deep basins to the northeast and 'southwest. Thus,while mokly arine or nearshore deposits were,being laid down'in and near the park, thousands of feet ofcred beds were being

n

laid down by streams in an area betwe:en the park and the Un-compahgre Plateati. During part ("liddle-Pennsylvanian. timea large area including the 'park anitknown as the Paradox Basin-Iwas alternately c"-ynected to or cut off from the sea, SO the..,waterevaporated ,during cutoff periods and was replenished duringperiods when connection with the sea resumed. In this hugeevaporation basin were .deposited the layers of Salt and gypsumplus some potash salts and shale that now make up the ParadoxMem her.

The old UncompAgre highland continued to shed debris intothe bordering basins until Triassic time when it began to ac-quire a veneer of red sandstone and siltstonc of the Chinle For-mation (Lohman, 1965). The area remained aboVe sea level dur-ing the Triassic Period and most if not all the Jurassic Period,although the Jurassic Carmel Forma n was laid down in a seathat lay just to the west.

Late in the Cretaceous Period a large part of central andsoutheastern United States, including the eastern half of pall,sank beneath the sea, as shown in figure Si, and receivedthousands of feet of mud, silt, and some sand that later com-pacted into the Mancos Shale. This formation and all theyounger and some older strata have long since been eroded fromthe park area but are present in adjacent areas, such as thelower slopes of the Book Cliffs north of Green River, CrescentJunction, and Cisco (fig. 7),

The land rose above the sea at about the close of theCretaceous and has remained above ever since, although inlandbasins and lakes received sediment during parts of the TertiaryPeriod. Compressive forces in the earth's crust produced somegentle folding of the strata at the close of the Cretaceous, butmore pronounced folding and some faulting occurred during theEocene EpoA, when most of the Rocky Mountains took form.During the Miocene Epoch molten igneous rock welled ut; intothe strata iirform the cores of the nearby La Sal, Ab*, and

113

1 Vi

LATE CRETACEOUS 8F.Aw 'which covered parts 4t canto' and southeastern nrtedStates. (Fig 81)

Henry Mountains (fig: 7). Additional_ppliftand-some folding oc-curred in the Pli6cene and Pleiitbcene Epochs.

Much of the kourse of the Coloradolliver was established inthe.Miocerie Epoch, with some additional adjustiments in the latePliocene and early Pleistocene Epochs (Hirt, 1969, p. 67). Ero-sion during much of the Tertiary Period and all of- the Quhter-nary:Kriod-, combined:with some sagging and breaking of thecrust )brought o by solution and lateral squeezing of salt bedsbeneath The *dies, The drabenq, and the Meander anticline,produced the landscape as we now see it.

The Precambrian rocks beneath th9.area are about 15 billionyears old, so an enormous span of time is represented by therocks and events in and beneath Canyonlands National Park.

If we consider the geologic formations that make up theColorado Plateauincluding national parks (N.P.), nationalmonuments (N.M.) (excluding small historical or archeologicalones), Monument Valley, San Rafael Swell, and Glen Canyonl',4ktional Recreation Areacertain formations or groups of for-mations' play starring roles in some parks or monuments, somePlay-supporting roles, a9d in a few places the entire cast of rocksgets about equal billing: Let us compare them and see how andwhere they fit into the geologic time spiral (fig. SO):

Dinosaur N. M., with exposed rocks ranging in age" filmPrecambrian to. Ci-etaceous, represents the greatest time spatT(nearly 2 billion years) but has one unitthe Jurassic MorrisonFormationin the starring role, for this unit contains the many

114

dinosaur 'fossils- that give the monument its name and fame;several older units have suprporting roles. Grand .Canyon N. P.and N. M. are next, with rocks from Precambrian,through Per-mian (excluding the Quaternary lava floWs in the N-. M.), buthere there is truly a team effort, for the entire cast gets about_equal billing. Canyonlands N. P. stands third in size of cast, withrocks ranging from Pennsylvanian to Jurassic, but we wouldhave to give top billing to the Permian Cedar Mesa SandstoneMember of the 'Cutler Formation, from which The Needles, TheGrabens, and most(of the arches were sculptured; the TriassicWingate Sandstone and Kayenta Formation get second billingfor their roles in forming and preserving Island in the Sky andother high mesas.

Now let us consider those with only one or few players in thecast, beginning at the bottom of the time spiral. Black Canyon ofthe Gunnison N. M., cut entirely in rocks of early Precambrianage (except for only a veneer of much younger rocks), obviouslyhas but one star in its cast. Colorado N. M. contains rocks rahg-ing from Precambrian to Cretaceousequal to Dinosaur in thisrespectbut' it is unique in that all the rocks of the longPaleozoic Era and some others are missing from the cast; ofthose that remain, the Triassic Wingate and Kayenta are thestars, with strong support from the Jurassic Entrada Sandstone.

All the bridges in Natural Bridges N. M. were carved from thePermian Cedar Mesa SandstoneAlso the star in Canyonlands N.P. In Canyon de Shelly (pronounced "dee shay") N. M. andMonument Valley (neither N. P. nor N. M., as it is owned andadministered by the Navajo Tribe), the de Chelly SandstoneMember of the Cutler Formationa Permian member youngerthan the Cedar Mesaplays the starring role.

Wupatki N. M., near Flagstaff, Ariz., stars the TriassicMoenkopi Formation. Petrified Forest N. P. (which now inCludespart of the Painted Desert) also has but one starthe TriassicChinle Formation, with its many petrified logs and stumps ofancient trees. The Triassic-Jurassic Glen Canyon Group (fig. 9),which includes the Triassic Wingate Sandstone and KayentaFormation and the Triassic-Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, receivestop billing in recently enlarged Capitol Reef N. P., but theTriassic Mtenkopi and Chinle Formations enjoy supportingroles.

The Triassic-Jurassic NavAjO Sandstone, erosional remnantsof which are found on the high mesas of Canyonlands N. P., isthe undisputed star of Zion N. P., Rainbow Bridge N. M., andGlen Canyon National Recreation Area, despite the fact that thelatter is the type locality of the entire Glen Canyon Group (fig.

115

9). The Navajo also forms the impressive reef at thq_eastern edgeof the beautiful San &dig t well- (a dome, or cloied anticline,fig. 7), now crossed by Highway 1-70 between Green Riyer aidFremont Junction, Utah.

As we journey upward in the time spiral ft 80),..the .furassic En_ trada-Sandstone, which stars in Arches-N. P.,with help from the up-46ring Navajo Sandstone and a support-ing cast of both older and younger rocks. The Entrada also formsthe grotesque-erosional forms called "h us and goblins" inGoblin Valley State Park, north of Hank e, Utah.

Moving ever upward in the spiral, we come to theCretaceousthe age of the starring MesaveRde Group, whosecaves in Mesa Verde N. P. now house beautifully preserved ruinsonce occupied-by the Anasazi, the same ancient people who oncedwelt in Canyonlands N. P.

This brings us up to the Tertiary Period, during the early partof which the pink limehones and shales of the ,Paleocene andEocene Wasatch Formation were laid down in inland basins.Beautifully sculptured cliffs, pinnacles, and caves of theWasatch star in Bryce Canyon N. P. and nearby Cedar Breaks N.M. This concludes our -climb up the time spiral, except forQuaternary volcanoes and some older volcanic features atSunset Crater _N. M4. near Flagstaff, Ariz.

Thus, one way or another, many geologic units that formed)during the last couple of billion years have performed on thestage of the Colorado Plateau and, hamlike, still lurk in thewings eagerly awaiting your applause to recall them to thefootlights. Don't` let them downvisit and enjoy the nationalparks-and monuments of the Plateau, for they probably are thegreatest collection of scenic wonderlands in the world.

116

0

Many reports covering various aspects of the area have beencited in the text by author and year, and these plus a few ad-ditional ones are listed below under "Selected References." Afew of general or special interest should be mentioned, however.

Between 1926 and 1931 virtually the entire area now includedin the park was mapped geologically in three classicreportstwo by Baker (1933, 1946) and One by McKnight (1940).These men andAheir field assistants-mapped the area by use ofthe plane table and telescopiC alidade without Benefit of moderntopographic maps or aerial photographs, except for topographicmaps of narrow stretches along the Green and Colorado Rivers

- made under the direction of Herron (1917). Only small sectionscould be, reached by automobile, so nearly all the area wastraversed using horses-or by hiking.

During the uranium boom of the early and middle 1950's, theLT.& Geological Survey remapped the topography of most dtthearea at a scale of 1:24,000, and also remapped the geology ofmuch of the area at thiS same scale. The- southerepart of the,N,e,edles district was mapped by Lewis and Campbell (1965). Thegeologic mapping west of the Green-and Colorado Rivers wasdone by F. A. McKeown, P. P. Orkild, C. C Hawley, and others;that east of the Colorado River and-a little betw)een the tworivers was done by E. N. Hinrichs and others. Olity four of thegeologic maps have beeepublished (Hinrichs and others, 1967,

49684971a, b), but all this work and the older reports were usedby Williams (1964) ir( compiling the 1:250,000-scale geologic mapof the Moab quadrangle, by Williams and Hackman (1971) incompiling a e similar map of the Salina quadrangle, and byHaynes, Vogel, and Wyant (1972) 1n-compiling a similar map ofthe-Cortez quadrangle. These three Maps show the geology ofthe entire park.

The 1979 issue of the Naturalist in which the cited pipers byJennings,- Newell, and Stokes appear also contains other paperson Ckhyonlands National Pik, including one on the plants.

117

Several early reports on the Green and Colorado Rivers andlization eontain a wealth of informatioiVand

many fine photographstwo reports on the Colorado River byLa Rue (1916, 1925), one on the Green River by Wooley (1930),and one on the upper Colorado River (above the confluence) by

llitAbee (1929)For those who wish to learn rnoreyabout the science of geology,

I suggest the textbook by Gtlluly, Waters,And Woodford (1968).-

AckriowledgmenMy deep appreciation goer- to Bates Wilson, former

superintendent of Canyonlands National Park, Ond to JoeCarithers, 'farmer assistant superintendent, fo their splendid

v cooperation i13 supplying data and information and for makingavailable four-whee, vehicles. I also wish to thank'Chuck&Age, forruer chief ranger; Dave May, assistant chief ranger;Joe Miller, former maintenance engineer; Bob Kerr,; newsuperintendent; Maxine Newell, park historian and member ofthe staff at Arches National Park; Jerry Banta, park ranger atArches; and Dave Minor, district ranger fin. the'Needles district,for their many favors.

-I am grateful to several colleagues and friends for the loan ofphotographs, for geologic help and data, and for reviewing thisreport. I am also deeply grateful, to my wife Ruth for accom,panying me on all the field work and for her help andencourage--ment.

R

Selected referencesBaars, D. L., and Molenaar-, C. M., 1971, Geology of Canyonlands and Cataract

Canyon: [Durango, Coloj Four Corners Geol. Soc., 6th Field Conf., CataractCanyon River expect, p.

Baler, A. A1933, Geology and oil possibilities of the Moab district, Grand andSan Juan Counties, Utah: Lf.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 841, 95 p.

1446, Geology of the Green River Desert-Cataract Canyon region, Emery,Wayne, and Garfield Counties, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 951, 122 p.

Baker, Pearl, 1971, The Wild Bunch at Robbers Roost: New York, Toronto, Lon-don, Abelard-Schuman, 224 p.

Whop. Captainiencis Marion, 1947, Bishop's Journal edited by CharlesKelley, in graphical sketches and original documents of the secondPowell expeditibri of 1871-72: Utah State Hist, Soc., Utah Hist. Quart., v. 15,p. 159-238.

Crampton, C.G., 1964. Standing up country. the canyon lands of Utah andArizona: New York, Alfred A. Knopf (Utah Univ. Press, in association withAmon Carter Mus. Western Art), 191 p.

Dellenbaugh, F. S., 1902, Thj romance of the Colorado River: New York, G. P.Putnam's Sons, 399 p [reprinted 1%2 by Rio Grande Press, Chicago, 111.1

1962, A canyon voyage: The narrative of She second Powell Expeditiondown the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the explorations onland, in'the years 1871 and 1872: New Haven and London, Yale Univ. Press,Foreward by William H. G_oetzmann, 277 p.

Everhart. W. C., 1972, The National Park Service, Praeger Library of U.S.Government Departments and Agencies No. 13: New York, London, PraegerPublishers, Inc.. 276 p

Findley, Rowe, 1971. Canyonlandsrealm of rock and the far horizon: Nat. Gog.Mag. July p. 71-91,-. . ,

., :_.

Gilluly Ames, Waters, A. C., and Woodford, A. 0., 1968, Fri: -pies of geology

itFullans , Robert; 1929, Upper Colorado River' and its 'tt ization: U.S. Geol.Si y Water Supply Paper 617, 394 p.

[3d ed.]: San Francisco and London, W. H. Freeman and _ ., 685 p.Hansen, W.R., 1969, The geologic story of the Uinta Mountains [with graphics by

John R. Stacy]: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1291, 144p.Assoc.Havition, T. S., 1927, Colorado -Utah salt dornesi Am. o Petroleum

-Geologists Bull., v. 11, no. 2, p. 111-133_ ''''Haynet."D. D., Vogel, J. DI, and Wyant, D. G., 1972, GeoiOgy, structure, and

uranixtrn deposits of the Cortez quadrangle, Colorado and Utah: U.S. Geol.Sur.vey, Mist. Geol. 1ny,, Map 1-629:

. .

Herron, W. H., 1917, Profile surveys in the Colorado River basin in WyominUtah, Colorado, and New Mexico: U.S? Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper396, 6 p., 43 pl.. . .

Hinrichs, E. N., and others, 1967, Geologic map of the northwest quarter of theHatch Point quadrangle, San Juan County,- Utah: U.S -Geol. Survey Misc.

.Geol. Inv. Map 1-513._1968 Geologic map of the northeast quarter of the Hate Point

.

'quadrangle, San Juan County, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Inv. Map1-526. . .

i .1974a. Geologic map of the southeast garter of the Hatch Point

quadringle, San Juan County, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Inv. Map1 -669.

1971b, Geologic map of the southwest quarter of the Hatch Pointquadrangle, San Juan County, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Inv. Map 4'

N i i1-670. '

Hite, R. J., 9681 Salt deposits of the Paradox Basin, southeast Utah andiouthwe t Colorado, in Mattox, R. `B., ed., Saline deposits: Geol. Soc.., _America Spec. Paper 88, p. 319-330.

Hunt, Aire. 1956, Archeology of southeastern 1 tah, in Geology and economicdeposits of east-central Utah: Intermountain Assoc. Petroleum Geologists,7th Ann. Field Conf.. Salt Lake'City, Utah, 1956, p. 13-18.

Hunt, C. W. 1969, Geologic history of the Colorado River, in The Colorado Riverregion and John Wesley Powell! U.S. Geol. Survey Prof_ Paper 669, p. 59-130.

Jennings, J. D., 1970, Canvonlandsahorigines: Naturalist, v. 21, Summer,Spec. Issue 2, p. 10-15.

besting, H. R., and Plouff, Donald, 1955, Geophysical studies of the UpheavalDome area, San 'Juan County, Utah: Intermountain Assoc. PetroleumGeologists, 9th Ann. Field Conf., Salt Lake City, Uraii. 1958, p. 86-91.

Joesting, H. R., Case, J. E., and Plouff, Donald, 1966, Regional geophysical in-vestigations of the Moab-Needles area, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper516-C, 21 p.

Kolh. E. L., 1927, Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico [2d ed.]:New York, Macmillan, 344 p. -

119

Lan sford.- Henry. 1972, Boatman in- the desert, a passenger-carrying stern-wheeler in canyon country: Empireimagazine of the Denver Post], Nov. 5. p..18-19.

LaRue, E. C., 1916, Colorado hive ari fts utilizat on U.S. Geol. Survey Water=Supply Paper 895; 231 -1r.

1925, Watmr powsr and flood control of Colorado River below Green River.UM. with a fcitcwtird by Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior, p. 1-100.[App. A. A report en water supply, by.E. C. La Rue and G. F. Holbrook. p.101423; app. B. &geologic report on the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon ofColorado River, by R. C. Moore, Ir. 125-171]: U.S. Geol. Survey Water-SupplyPaper 556, 176 p.

Lewis, R. Q.. and Campbell, R. H., 1965. Geology and uranium deposits of ElkRidge and vicinity, San Juan County, Utah: U -S Geto) Survey Prof. Paper474-B, 69 p. 4 '

Loh_ man, S. W., 1965, The geologic story of Colorado National Monument: Colo.and Black Canyon Nat. History Assoc., 56 p.

McKnight E. T., 1940, Geology of area between Green and Colorado Rivers,Gran and San Juan Counties, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 906, 147 p.

Mottos, . B., 1968, Upheaval Dome, a possible salt dome in the Paradox Basin.Utah, in Meaux; R. B., ed., Saline deposits: Geol. Soc. America Spec, Paper88. p.\331-347_

Mutschler, F. E., 1969, Labyrinth,. Stillwater, and Cataract Canyons: Riverrunners' guide to the canyoro of the Green and Colorado. RiVera, withemphasis on geologic features, volume II: Denver, Colo., Powell Soc., Ltd.,79 p.

\Mutschler, F. E., and Hite, R. J., 1969, Origin of the Meander anticline, Cataract

Canyon, Utah, and basement fault control of Colorado River drainage [abs.];Geol. Soc.'America, Rocky Mtn. See., 22nd Ann. Mtg., Salt Lake City, Utah,1969, Abs. with Programs, pt. 5,JC 57-58.

Newberry, J. S., 1861, Geological report, in Ives, J. C., Reportupon the ColoradoRiver of the West: U.S_ 36th Cong. 1st sess., S. Ex. Doc. and H. Ex_ Doc. 90,pt. 3, 154 p.

Newell, Maxine, 1970, Canyonlandsmodern hist Naturalist, v 21,Summer, Spec. Issue 2, p. 40-47. . ._-_,

,.Newman, W. L., 1970, Geologic time: S. Geol. Survey, 20 p.Porter, Elliot 1969 Down,the Colorado, ohn Wesley Powell diary of the first

trip through the Grand Canyon-I869: ew York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1.68 p., ;

Powell., J. W. 1675, Ekploiation of the Colorado River of the West and itstributaries: Washington, D.C., 291 p.

. ,

Rabbitt, M. C., 1969, John Wesley Powell: pioneer statesman of federal science,in The Colorado River region and John Wesley Powell: U.S. Geol. SurveyProf. Paper 669, p. 1-21. - ..

Sharrock, F. W., 1966, An archeological survey of Canyonlands National Park:Utah Univ., Dept, Anthropology, Anthropol. Papers, Misc. Paper 83, p. 51-84.

Stacy, J. R., 1962, Shortcut method for the preparation of shaded-relief il-lustrations, in Short papers in geology, hydrology, and topography: U.S.Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 450 -D, p. D164-D165.

Stokes, W. L., 1970, Canyonlandsgeology: Vaturalist, v. 21, Summer, Spec.Issue 2, p. 3-9_

Stone, J. F., 1932, Canyon countryThe romance of a drop of water and a grainof sand: New York, London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 442 p.

US. Geol. Survey, [19691 John Wesley Powyllsoldier, explorer, scientist: 23 pe..

120

Williams, P: L., 1964, Geology, structure, and uranium deposits of the Moabquadrangle, COlorado and Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Inv. Map I..360.

Williams, P. L., and Heckman, R. J., 1971, Geology, structure, and uraniumdeposits-af the Salina quadrangle, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Gaol_ inv.Map I591.

7701310,--R. R., 1930, The Green River and its utilization: U.S. Geol. SurveyWAter-Supply Paper 61.8, 456 p.

Wright, J. C., Shaw, D. R., and Lohman, S. W., 19P2, Definition of members ofthe Jurassic Entrada Sandstone in east-central Utah and west centralColorado: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 46, no 11, p. 2057 -270.

121

Index

[Balk page !masers indite Major references]

A

AL** Moon 4ins-e.-Additions to the park

21, 1131

-All American Idch. pictograph 9, 70Anasszi people = 9. 12, 68Anderson Bottom 93Angel Arch

'Anticline OverlookArches 64, 70

AngelCanyon VfewpointCmtle 68Druid 24, 76Gothic 458

in Cedar Mesa Sandman 66, 115In Navajo Saatone ,2:Little,fisinbow Bridge 98origin -65Pinto 98Wooden Shoe

7 -66Arches Natival Park 23, 116

B

Beef Basin 4-

Henchland§Bighorn MesaBishop, Francis Marion, quotationBlack Canyon, of the Gunnison National

58

-46

-106

Monument 115

Bonita Bend 57, 93Bootlegger Canyon 9$

Bowknot Bend 85, 88Bryce Canyon National Park 116

Bureau of Land Management -46Buttes, Junction

Merrimac and Monitorof the Cross 92Turks Head * 40, 43. 93

Campgrounds, Hatch Point -48near Green River Overlook 43Peeka-hoo Spring 6$

Squaw Flat 2,63Windwhistle -47

Cane Creek anticline 31, 50, 53, 100

Canyon de Chelly National Monumenteigro y ri King

115

Canyon lima Recreation Area ------ ==. --!-- -47

Canyon Viewpoint Arch 36Canyonlands Overloo0, 48

PageCanyonlands R e s o r t ....... --------- 2. 63Canyons, access

Bootlegger 9$

Cataract 5, 85, 108Colorado River --25CycloneDavis

'DesolationElephantGreen RiverEOMHorseshoe

laKane SprinpLabyrinthLathropLavenderLackharl,Lower RerkLakeMillardMineralRangeRed LakeSaltSevennideSLill waterTaylorTrough SpringsUpheaval

Capital Reif National Park - = -------- -------Castle Arch 6$Cataract Canyon - - ------ 5, 85. 108Cave Spring Environmental Trail 14, 66Cave Spring line camp -------- - - - 2, 14Cedar Breaks National MonumentCedar Mesa Sandstone 47, 56, nY

arches

a

79, BO

64, 70

76

SS64, 67

1, 9-48

$4, 70-49

57

9, 64, 6628

43,.92

66 115potholes 36, 6,5

Chealer Park 75. 76Chinle For-ation 115

Moen Back Member 16, 62Church Rock iClimateColorado National MonumentColorado Plateau 17, 21, 114Colorado River - - ------------ 96, 114

river runners' guidebook - -

Confluence of Green and Colorado Rivers17, 80, 106Confluence Overlook -80Cutler Formation 54, 62, 98

Cedar Mesa Sandstone Member 47de Chelly Sandstone Member 115

Organ'Rock Tongue 40White Rim Sandstone Member 34

129

123

Cutler Formation-ContinuedSee also Cedar Beetle Sandston

Rim Sandstone,Cyclone Canyon

D, E

Pageits

HistorY=Cantinued Pagemapping- 117

P6eiell river expeditions - -- 4,6779, 60 I railroads

trapper J u lien 90Horse CanyonHorseshoe Canyon 1, 9klonteaboe Canyon Detached Unit s .54Horsethief Trail V; 36, 90

-Hurrah Pau 49. 50

Davis Canyon 64, 70Dead Hone Point 90, 31. 101Dead Horse Point State Park - - - - .... --Desolation CanyonDevils KitchenDevils LaneDevils Pocket

476

76, SO75

Dinosaur National Monument -- 8, 114Druid Arch 24, 76Dugout Ranch 14, 61

Elatfrite Ruin 58Elephant Canyon 76Elephant Hill - 2, 75Entrada Sandstone == 28. 115, 116Entrances, Island in the Sky istriet 2, Mt, 34

Needles district 2, 60Ernies Country hsErosion 21, 64, 114

tarn/slideNeedles districratevolume of ruck removed

Facies changesFaultsFlOodsFort Bottnrn

F, (I

21,9021, 112

34, 47,63, 11363. 79. 104

67

Fossils --- - 76, 101Four=wheel-drive ro4t1s. Se Jeep trails.Fremont people ------ ------ 9, 12

Gas - 63, 112Geologic history 20, 111Glen Canyon National Recreation - - 415Goblin Valley State Park 116

Goose Neck - /30, 31, 101Gothic ArchGrand Canyon National Park -115Grand iColorados River 17, 95Grand View PointGrays PastureGreen River

OverlookRlynr 41111114,es' gunielmok

Ground stater= -

lath Pointeh Point Campground --- --------

Henry Mountains - - - 21, 114Her tniem Formation, Paradox Member = = 33. 79, 1013Distoo. Butch Cassidy aqil hl lvil I Bunch-1=4. 57

cliffilwellerseliffikvellings

29, 364;

-4;1

64. ti5

first siting by white man

4

i

37

Igneous rocksladiari CreekIndian Creek State Park'sIndian ruins. See Ruins.Indians, Anasati

FEeroontPuebloUte

20,61, 03,

9,

---

113

101

12. 61

12, 689, 12

9-12

IronBland in The Sky - - -- 07

Jackson Hole_ 90, 100

Jeep trails Davis Canyon 70Elephant Hill 2,-25Horse Canyon -67Hurrah Pass 46Island in the Sdistr ict -

Lavender Carly 70Needles district 2, 63, 75Potash areareason for building - = = - ,====== -16Salt Canyon -66Silver Stairs 2, 70 80SOB Hillwest of Green Fifihr

= 2

Jennings. J, D., quotation 9, 12Joint Trail 76Joints " 5,4, 79JulienJunction Butts

Kane -Springs CantonKayenta FormationKeyhole Ruin['Zings Bottom syncline

K, I.

4825, 54. 115

-57

--= 50. 98

La Sal Mountains - 21. 113Labyrinth Canyon ---- - - --= - - = - = - 5. 90Lake Powell 23. 104.

Land 5 Standing Bucks 58Lathrop 'anyon ,- - 34, 36Lavender Canvon -k -f= - 54,70Little FV My), Bodge --- 1 =98Lockhar Basin 49Liochha t Canxon 49Lohman, S. IV ritini. n 041

LO-ver got Lake Can on A _go

14,11n Mapk, genloginsatellite image

kr

Mars =Continued Page

shaded %Wier = 18

Meander anticline 79, 108Merrimac and Monitor Buttes 26Mesa Trail 56Mesa Verde Natiodral Park 116Memos_ 67. 46Metamorphic rodra 81Metric converaion factors 1

Millard Canyon -57Mineral Canyon -29Mines, Atomic King 50

Mi Vida s 16potash 53, 98School Section 13 100uranium 16, 29, 50. 100

Moab--Moab 4mtielineMoenkopi FormationMonument BasinMonument ValleyMorrison Formation 114

Moss Back Member of Chinle Formation ---- 16, 62Mutschler, F. E., quotation 91

16, 86, 96s 50

15

12115

N,

Natural Bridges National Monument - -- 115

Navajo Sandstone, 116

arches 36

color 24

environment of deposition 20resistance to erosion 25

Needles districtNeedles OverlookNewell, Manioc, quotationNewspaper RockNorth Point

6042, 47

.100

12, 61

57

Oil 53, 100. 112Old Spanish Trail 57.108Orange CliffsOrgan Rock Tongue of Cutler Formation 40Overloogt Anticline 31. 50

Canyonlands -49Confluence 80Dead Hoke Point 30 31Grand View Point. 0Green River 43Needles 42.471'.3 loop 49

Q

Paradot-Basin 113

Paradox Member of 11 mosa Formation117

Paul Minivans Potty 67

Petrified Fbrest National Park 115

Petroglyphs 12, 97Photographs 3

Powell camera stationsPicnic sitesPictographsPinto ArchPorter. Elliot, quotationPotash saltsPotholesPowell, John Wesley

Powell-Continued

John Wesley, quotationriver expeditions

Memorial HighwayPueblo people

Quicksand -

R

RailroadsRainbow Bridge National MonumentRange CanyonRed Lake Canyon_HO FormationRine:0ns

Anderson BottomIndian CreekJackson Hole

River tripsrantgen Kingearly float -------- - ---- - -87, 88, 96guidebooks 4, 68Powell expeditions ------ - - --- - - 4,117rapids 106stern-wheeler 98

Rivers, Colorado 96, 114

Grand (Colorado) 17, 96Greencutoffs 86, 87

See (lbw Rincons.meanders - 35, 86

Rock column 20. 31Rock folds, anticlines

Page106

4, 817

-8

9

15

58410

76, 10186, 90

93

93, 10190, 100

85-, 6698

Cane Creek anticlineKings fliittorn synclineMeander anticlineMoab anticlineoil and gaspotash saltsSan Rafael Swell

-31, 50. 4. 10050. 96

79. 10850

53

53

116

Shafer dome 44 , 53. 101synclines ------ 43 49, 100Upheaval Dome 3

Rock fractures, faultsjointsorigin

Rock inscriptionsRock layers. dipRock paintingsRuin ParkRuins

AnasaziFort BottomgranariesKeyholeTower

63, 79, UM63, 79

79 W

54, H.S. 90, 974

Salt bedsSalt CanyonSalt CreekSan Rafael DesertSan Rafael well =Sedimentary rocks

ages

1

91- 75

64, 709, 66

9.6867

9,68

43 53, 79, 108, 1139, 64, 66

106

54

116

20, 11220, 112

125

Sedimenta17 rock -Continued=cernent

colorelaterite 7enviroaMents of deposition - - - -20, 113

1 changes 34. 58. 113- - - -- -- - ---------- 76, 101

Agyiisurnlayerake geology"salt 43, 53. 79, 108, 113sculpture by erosion - -----

Sevenmile CanyonShafer BasinShafer dome - 'a'Shafer limestoneShafer Trail --- - -34Silver Stairs 2, 79, 80Six-Shooter Peaks 61SOB Hill 2, 75Spanish Bottom --- 86. 85. 168Spanish explorers 12Springs 36Squaw Flat Campground 2, 63Steer Mesa -46Stillwater Canyon it. 40. 43, 92Sunset Crater National Monument- 119

28

0031, 49, 53, 101

31, 54

T

-Taylor Canyon - 91The Doll House ,58The Fins 58The Grabens

4440 -79Cyclone Canyon - 79. 80Devils Lane 75, 80Devils pocket 75origin 79

The Loop 85. 164The Mate 58The Nk 27. 34The Needles 73The portal 97The Slide 166The Spur -5-1

-Three Worlds- 24Thundershowers 67Tower Ruin 9. 68Trails, Cave Spring Environmental - 14, 66

font 7 n3, ett 70. 7:1. 76, 98home 54

Horseth ief -29. 36. 90jeep. Se Jeep trails.

Joint -1 -76Mesa ---- -36Old Spanish 57, 106

126

T-rails-Continued PageShafer .34

mid Arch 76pheaval Dome 46

6o Rim -34Trans nation in the park 726Trough prings canyon --- - - ---Turks - - -- - -- -s---410.43;93Twain, quotation -87

U, V

U-3 loopUneompahirre highlandUpheaval Can yonUpheaval DomeUranium

minesoccurrence

Ute per-31440s

- ---,7 ---

6,

.4954, 113

-

'4316, 34, 97

29, 50, 10016, 62

12

vegetation, Choler Parkfossil forest

76101

Hatch Point - - - - - -47historical changes 90Island in the SkySquaw Flat 63

W,

Wasatch Formation 116Water, artesian - 91

'floods -67

ground -_ - -- -- 64, 65Wand in the Sky district ------ 43, 91potholes 36, 65quicksand 66springs 36

Whale RockWhite Rim 34, 58White Rim Sandstone --- 23. 47, 54

color 24elawrite ---/ 58potholes 36thickness variation 23, 34. 40, 43water - 91

White Rim Trail 34Windwhi_stle Campground 47Wingate Sandstone 45, 54, 61, 115

riiffdwellings ---------97pet roglyphs 12, 97

resistance to erosion 25lti ooden Shoe 66

tki National Monument 115

Zinn National Pack 115

_V_ T VITINTI116 TWICE 1913 0=5-74I